In the days of Louis XIV of France, his nobles were not permitted to contract marriages without his consent. Particularly was this enforced in the case of orphan heiresses, whose hands were bestowed upon favorites of the monarch without the unfortunate young women being consulted at all. Constance Du Vallon inherited a large estate, and was deeply in love with a young gallant, whose home was near her home. This noble, however, was in disfavor at court, and his suit was frowned upon. Finally the king commanded the girl to repair to court without delay and there wed one of his favorites, a dissipated count, whom she loathed. There was no opportunity to escape, for the message was brought by a detachment of the king's guards, ironically described as \"an escort of honor.\" Shortly after Constance and her escort had departed, her suitor arrived at her home and was mad with grief on hearing what had happened. Declaring he would rescue her no matter what the odds, he set forth alone. Fortune favored him, for he came upon the party while they were resting at a wayside inn. The soldiers tried to capture him, but he fought them to a standstill, and aided by his plucky fiancée, escaped on horseback and outdistanced the servants of the king. The pursuit was hotly taken up, and the fugitives were trapped at the ocean front. Desperately they took to the water, captured a fishing boat and set forth to sea. After many privations they were picked up by a Dutch ship bound for America, kindly treated, and a minister who was aboard made them man and wife. Their troubles were not over, for the ship was wrecked and the young wife and her husband were the only ones saved, drifting ashore on a piece of wreckage. A tribe of Indians captured them, and would have cruelly treated them had it not been for a peculiar bracelet the girl wore. She explained that the jewel had been given to her by an Indian chief she had befriended in France, and this fact changed her foes to friends, for the chief was one of their own tribe who had been sincerely loved. The future life of the young couple was happy, and the wife never regretted that she had flouted the authority of the king to follow the fortunes of the man she loved.
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