Weird Tales Book

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: MADEMOISELLE DE SCUDERI. A TALE OF THE TIMES OF LOUIS XIV. The little house in which lived Madeleine de Scuderi,1 well known for her pleasing verses, and the favour of Louis XIV. and the Marchioness de Maintenon, was situated in the Rue St. Honoree. One night almost at midnight?it would be about the autumn of the year 1680?there came such a loud and violent knocking at the door of her house that it made the whole entrance-passage ring again. Baptiste, who in the lady's small household discharged at one and the same time the offices of cook, footman, and porter, had with his mistress's permission gone into the country to attend his sister's wedding; and thus it happened that La Martiniere, Mademoiselle's lady- maid, was alone, and the only person awake in the house. The knockings were repeated. She suddenly remembered that Baptiste had gone for his holiday, and that she and her mistress were left in the house without any further protection. All the outrages? 1 Madeleine de Scudery (1607-1701), a. native of Normandy, went to Paris and became connected with the Hotel Rambouillet. Afterwards, on its being broken up by the troubles of the Fronde, she formed a literary circle of her own, their " Saturday gatherings" becoming celebrated. Mademoiselle de Scudey wrote some vapid and tedious novels, amongst which were the CUlie (1656), an historical romance, to be mentioned presently in the text, IKS ...-, to be mentioned preseuu;M":' SCUDERY burglaries, thefts, and murders?which were then so common in Paris, crowded upon her mind; she was sure it was a band of cut-throats who were making all this disturbance outside ; they must be well aware how lonely the house stood, and if let in would perpetrate some wicked deed against her mistress; and so she remained in her room...Read More