Devoted to the Emperor, he found himself gravely
compromised at the advent of the Second Restoration. At the time of the
celebrated rising at Montaignac, he was arrested on the double charge of
high treason and conspiracy. He was tried by a military commission, and
condemned to death. The sentence was not executed, however. He owed his
life to the noble devotion and heroic energy of a priest, one of his
friends, the Abbe Midon, cure of the little village of Sairmeuse. The
baron d'Escorval had only one son, who embraced the judicial profession
at a very early age."
Lecoq was intensely disappointed. "I understand," he remarked. "This
is the biography of our magistrate's father. Only I don't see that it
teaches us anything."
An ironical smile curved old Tirauclair's lips. "It teaches us that
M. d'Escorval's father was condemned to death," he replied. "That's
something, I assure you. A little patience, and you will soon know
everything."
Having found a new leaf, he recommenced to read: "Sairmeuse
(Anne-Marie-Victor de Tingry, Duc de).--A French general and politician,
born at the chateau de Sairmeuse, near Montaignac, in 1758. The
Sairmeuse family is one of the oldest and most illustrious in France. It
must not be confounded with the ducal family of Sermeuse, whose name is
written with an 'e.' Leaving France at the beginning of the Revolution,
Anne de Sairmeuse began by serving in the army of Conde. Some years
later he offered his sword to Russia; and it is asserted by some of his
biographers that he was fighting in the Russian ranks at the time of the
disastrous retreat from Moscow.
Pages:
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374