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Show C&W40UCHE C o by JJofael Sabatinl j BEGIN HERE TODAY. The rfiveng which A.NDR.E-L.OU7B MOREAU hoped to inflict on the great and powerful MARQUIS DE LA TOUR D'AZYR had forced the young lawyer to flee from a charge of sedition. Two motives animated hla hatred of the Mnniui. The. first was the death of his friend, PHILIPPE DE VZLMORXN, a divinity atudent, who wm tricked into a duel and slain by the Marqula Thv second wa his love for beautiful ALINE DE KERCADIOU, niece of tha Lord of Oavrillac, who was popularly popular-ly believed to be the father of Andre-Louis The Marquis is suing for the hand of Aline. After two brilliant bril-liant speeches In Rcnnes and Nantes, Andre-Louis heedn Aline'B warning and flee. He takes refugo In aj barn and Is awakened by the oices of two lovers, 2LIMENE and LEANDRK, wlio are yanic-siric K'-n at the Impending disco . ery by the girl's father, GO ON VTTII THE STORY. "Calm. mademoiselle, calm." the iubtle friend WOM urging Climene Keep :alm and trust to me. 1 promise you that all shall he well. "Oh:" cried M. LeanJrr, llmpl 'Say what you will, my friend, this s.iuln the end of all our hopes Your wits win never extricate us from thin. Never." Through the gap strode now an enormous man with an Inflamed moon face and a great nose, decently dressed sfter the fashion of a solid bourgeois There was no mistaking his anger, but the expression that it found was an Jina2enient to Andre-Lnul?. 'Leandre, you're an imbecile! Tour words wouldn't convince a plouxh-boy!" plouxh-boy!" He checked abruptly, atartled n-drc-lvouis. suddenly realizing wh;it was ufoot. and how duped he had been, had loosed his laughter. The sound of It pealing nnd booming uncannily under the great roof that no immediately imme-diately confined him was startling to thoRx- below. The fat man was the first to roeOV-er, roeOV-er, and he announced it after his own fashion in one of the ready sarcasms In which ho habitually dealt "Hark'" he cried, "the verv gods launh at you, Landre." Then he ad-dre-sed the mof of the barn and Ita Invisible tenant. "Hi, You there!" Andre-Louis revealed himself bj a further protrusion of his tousled head. "Good morning," eald he. pleAsantl "What the devil are you doing up I there "Precisely the same thing that you; are doing down then,'' was the an-; swer "I am I respa.ssing " "Eh?" said Pantaloon, and looked! at his companions, some of the assurance assur-ance beaten out of his big red f.ic "Whose land is this?" Andre-Loul-? answered, whilst draw-' ing on his stockings "I believe It to j be ttie property of the Marquis da La Tour d'Azyr " Having donned his boots, Andre-Louis Andre-Louis came nimbly to the ground In his shlrt-sloeves, his rldlng-coat over liis arm. They followed him through that gap In the hedge to the encampment on ih common. Inhere Andre-Louis percch -ed a young man of the companj performing per-forming his morning toilet at a bucket i placed upon am- of the wooden stops, at the tail of the house on wheels. ' "I would beg leave to Imitate tluti very excellent young gentleman before ! I leavo you," he said frankly to M Pantaloon. "Bur. by all means Rhodomont will provide what you require." 9o Andre-Louis once more removed li and hla coat, and rolled up the sleeve.s of his fine shirt, whilst! J Rhodomont procured him soap, n tow-I tow-I el. and presently a broken comb. This last Andre-Louis gratefully accepted.! and having presently washed himself! i lean. stood, restoring order to his dis- : beveled locks. He was standing thus. whon hlsj ; ears caught the sound of hoofs. Hej looked over his shoulder carolesly audi then oiiiok frozen, with uplifted comb1 and loosened mouth. Away across the; 'common, on the road that bordered It,, he beheld a party of seven horsemen, In the blue coats with red facings of 'the rnarerhaussec AVbcn ii moment later the sergeant pulled up his horse alongside of this half-dressed young man. Andre-Louis combed his hair what time he looked up with a half smile, Intended to be' friendly IngenUOUB and disarming, j "What Is your pleasure, captain?" "My pleasure is to tell you that you jarc vary likely to be gaoled for this, all the pack of you." "But how so, my captain'' This Is communal land free to all." I "It is nothing of the kind This ls terre censlve." "Technically, 1 suppose ou are right.' slghe,j Andre-Louis, and fellj to combing his hair again, still look-ling look-ling up Into the sergeant's face. "We are grateful to you for the warning"! I He pussed the comb Into his left hand. and with his right fumbled In his breaches' pocket, whence there came a faint Jingle of coins. "Well, well," said he, gruffly. "But you must decamp, you understand " He leaned from tho saddle to brine hlo recipient hand to a convenient distance. dis-tance. Andre-Louis placed in It a throo-llvre piece. "After all," said the sergeant, "it Is none of our business to play t2ie tipstaves for M. de La Tour d'Azyr We are for tho marechausee from Kcnnes " The sergeant wheeled his horse about, his troop wheeled with him. "You, monsieur!" he called over hla shoulder In a bound Andro-Lnuls was beside his stirrup "We are In quest of a scoundrel nnmcd Andrc-Louls Mo-reau. Mo-reau. from Gavrlllae, a fugutlve from Justice wantoel for the gallows on a matter of sedition You've seen nothing. noth-ing. I suppose of a man whose movements move-ments seemed to you suspicious?" 'Indeed, wo have," said Andro-Louls, vory boldly, his face eager with consciousness con-sciousness of the ability to obllK "Yes, yee," the sergeant felt himself him-self hot on the trail. "There was a fellow who seemed very fearful of being recognizeil . . a man of fifty or thereabeuts . . ." "Fifty"' crIVd the sergeant, and his face fell. Bah' This man nf ours I" no older than yourself, a thin wisp of a fellow of about your own height and of black hair. Just like your own, by the description Keep a lookout on your travels, master player. The king's Lieutenant in Rennes has scr t us word this morning that he will pav ten louls to anyone giving Information that V oil lead 10 this scoundrel's arrest. ar-rest. It would be B fine windfall for you, that." ' A fine windfall, indeed, captain," answored Andre-Louis, laughing But the sergeant had touched his horse with tho spur and was already trotting oft In the wake of his men. Then ho turned slowly about, and came back towards Pantaloon and the rest of the company, who were now : grouped together, at gaze. CHAPTER 11 They were, thought Andre-Louis, as he sat down to breakfast with them behind the itinerant house, an odd and yet an attracts e crew. They numbered exactly eleven, three women and eight men; and they addressed ad-dressed each other by their stag'' narne.s. names which denoted their several sev-eral types and never varied, no matter what might be the play that they performed per-formed "We are,' Pantaloon informed him. one of those few remaining stunch bands of real players, who uphold the traditions of the old Italian Commedla dell' Arte Each ' of us is his own author as he develops the part as.Mtcn-ed as.Mtcn-ed to him W are Improvlscrs Im-provlsors Im-provlsors of the old and noble Italian school." And he proceeded to introduction in detail. He pointed out the long and amiable Rhodomont, whom Andre-Louis Andre-Louis already knew "Thin here wo have Scaramoucho. whom also you already know. Sometime Some-time he In Scapln and sometimes C'ovlello, but in the main Scara moucho, to which let me tell you he is best suited sometimes too wen ' sultod, I think. For he Is FVc-ara-mourhe not only on the stage, but also In tho world. He has a gift of Isly Intrigue, an art of setting folk I by the oars, combined with an impii-(dent impii-(dent aggressiveness upon occasion i j when ho considers himself safe from 11 reprisals He Is Scaramouche, tho little lit-tle skirmisher, to the very life. Veould j I say more But I am bv disposition i charitable and loving to all mankind. ' "As tho priest said whon he kissed i the scrving-w ench, ' snarled Scara- ( imouche, and went on eating. 1 "His humor, like your own vou will II Observe, Is acrid," said Pantaloon, j "Then we have Pasquariel hero, who is sometimes an apothecary. some- ! jtlmes a notary , an amiable, accommo- jB dating fellow. And finally, you have j mysi If, who as the father of the com- j Bf pany very properly play as Pantaloon I II I the roles of father. For ths rest, 9 I am the only one who has a name It 1 E Is Blnet. y "And now for the ladles. First ws 'f have Madame there She i9 our Duegne. Then we hae this pert Col- ' t umblno, and lastly my daughter Cllm- g I one. an amoureuse of talents not to I be mat bed outside the Comedle Fran- A c.iise, of which she has the bad taste I to aspire to become a member." (Continued in Our Next Issue.) |