THE FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE 15

A happy marriage? Far from it! Louis never under- stood this flighty Viennese who had been planted on him. He snored in bed while she danced all night.

Years passed . . .

France is bankrupt . . . The Bastille falls . . .

The French Revolution has begun.

Louis is executed. Marie is brought to court. She is accused of a ruinous extravagance, of sending money to support war on France, and of inciting her husband to crimes against his country. She denies it all in vain.

A muddy cart drawn by a thin white horse takes her to the guillotine. She seems deaf to the howls and jeers of the crowd. Her face is white, her eyes red with weeping, and her hands fastened. So different she looks from the gay Marie of former days. So different, so very different now

And now—she 15 dead. So ends the brief career of a fascinating queen. And to- day her memory is perpetuated on a distant island by a small oval box. Its present owner told me the story.

“Before the queen was executed," she said, “she gave the snuff-box to her maid as a keepsake. The maid had a long deep pocket such as were used on dresses in those days, so she slipped it into her pocket. After the execution this maid went out to the Magdalen Islands

”In the Magdalens she worked for a certain Madame Boudreau. The maid gave her the snuff— box Then Muncey was sent to the Magdalen Islands and his wife became a great friend of Madame Boudreau’s. And when Mrs. Muncey left, Madame Boudreau gave her the snuff—box as a keepsake.”

Apparently Mrs. Muncey didn’t value it as highly