The Valet's Tragedy, and Other StudiesLang, Andrew
History
The Valet's Tragedy, and Other Studies
Lang, Andrew
History; World history
So perished Roux de Marsilly; the history of the master throws no light
on the secret of the servant. That secret, for many years, caused the
keenest anxiety to Louis XIV. and Louvois. Saint-Mars himself must
not pry into it. Yet what could Dauger know? That there had been a
conspiracy against the King’s life? But that was the public talk of
Paris. If Dauger had guilty knowledge, his life might have paid for it;
why keep him a secret prisoner? Did he know that Charles II. had been
guilty of double dealing in 1668-1669? Probably Charles had made some
overtures to the Swiss, as a blind to his private dealings with Louis
XIV., but, even so, how could the fact haunt Louis XIV. like a ghost? We
leave the mystery much darker than we found it, but we see reason good
why diplomatists should have murmured of a crusade against the cruel
and brigand Government which sent soldiers to kidnap, in neighbouring
states, men who did not know their own crime.
To myself it seems not improbable that the King and Louvois were but
stupidly and cruelly nervous about what Dauger MIGHT know. Saint-Mars,
when he proposed to utilise Dauger as a prison valet, manifestly did not
share the trembling anxieties of Louis XIV. and his Minister; anxieties
which grew more keen as time went on. However, ‘a soldier only has
his orders,’ and Saint-Mars executed his orders with minute precision,
taking such unheard-of precautions that, in legend, the valet blossomed
into the rightful king of France.
* * *
APPENDIX.
ORIGINAL PAPERS IN THE CASE OF ROUX DE MARSILLY.*
Note I. Letter of Mons. P. du Moulin to Arlington.**
Paris, May ye 19-29, 1669.
My Lord,
. . . . . .
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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