"His father was a Seigneur--the last of the fief of Desaurac. The Seigneurs have all been fair men for generations, while this fellow--"
"Then he has noble blood in him?" The Marquis showed surprise. "Where is the fief?"
"The woods on the shore mark the beginning of it."
"But--I don't understand. The father was a Seigneur; the son--"
Bluntly the commandant explained; the son was a natural child; the mother, a common peasant woman whom the former Seigneur had taken to his house--
"I see!" The young nobleman tapped his knee. "And that being the case--"
"Under the terms of the ancient grant, there being no legal heir, the lands were confiscated to the crown. His Excellency, however, had already bought many of the incumbrances against the property, and, in view of this, and his services to the King, the fief, declared forfeited by the courts, was subsequently granted and deeded, without condition, to the Governor."
"Who at once began a rare clearing-out; forcing the peasants who for years had not been paying métayage, to meet this just requirement, or--move away!"
"They did; but his Excellency found means. The most troublesome were arrested and taken to the Mount, where they have had time to reflect--his Excellency believes in no half-way measures with peasants."
"A rich principality, no doubt!" half to himself spoke the Marquis.
"I have heard," blurted the commandant, "he's going to give it to the Lady Elise; restore the old castle and turn the grounds surrounding it into a noble park."
The visitor frowned, as if little liking the introduction of the lady's name into the conversation. "And what did the Black Seigneur do then," he asked coldly, "when he found his lands gone?"
"Claimed it was a plot!--that his mother was an honest woman, though neither the priest who performed the ceremony nor the marriage records could be found. He even resisted at first--refused to be turned out--and, skulking about the forest with his gun, kept the deputies at bay. But they surrounded him at last; drove him to the castle, and would have captured him, only he escaped that night, and took to the high seas, where he has been making trouble ever since!"
"He has seriously hampered his Excellency's commerce; interfered with his ships, and crippled his trade with the Orient."