Part 19 (1/2)
The marvel was that the old chaise, which in its halcyon days nitary of the Church, did not founder instead ofunder that excessive and ribald load
Next ca, lean Rhodomont, who had daubed his face red, and increased the terror of it by a pair of forh-boots and leather jerkin, trailing an enormous sword froled feather, and as he advanced he raised his great voice and roared out defiance, and threats of blood-curdling butchery to be performed upon all and sundry On the roof of this vehicle sat Leandre alone He was in blue satin, with ruffles, slass, and red-heeled shoes: the co very handsoled hi as a proper tribute to his personal endowments, and returned it with interest Like Climene, he looked out of place amid the bandits who co up the rear caed the property-cart He had insisted upon assu as for euise
For the rest, he had retained his own gar beside his donkeys, an insignificant rear guard, which he ell content to be
They made the tour of the town, in which the activity was already above the normal in preparation for next week's fair At intervals they halted, the cacophony would cease abruptly, and Polichinelle would announce in a stentorian voice that at five o'clock that evening in the old market, M Binet's famous company of improvisers would perform a new comedy in four acts entitled, ”The Heartless Father”
Thus at last they caroundfloor of the town hall, and open to the four winds by two archways on each side of its length, and one archway on each side of its breadth These archways, with two exceptions, had been boarded up Through those thich gave adaards ere reluctant to spend the necessary sous to obtain proper adlimpses of the performance
That afternoon was the most strenuous of Andre-Louis' life, unaccustomed as he was to any sort of e at one end of the an to realize how hard-earned were to be his monthly fifteen livres At first there were four of them to the task--or really three, for Pantaloon did no more than bawl directions Stripped of their finery, Rhodo Meanwhile the other four were at dinner with the ladies When a half-hour or so later they came to carry on the work, Andre-Louis and his co Polichinelle to direct the operations as well as assist in them
They crossed the square to the cheap little inn where they had taken up their quarters In the narrow passage Andre-Louis came face to face with Climene, her fine feathers cast, and restored by now to her normal appearance
”And how do you like it?” she asked him, pertly
He looked her in the eyes ”It has its compensations,” quoth he, in that curious cold tone of his that left one wondering whether he meant or not what he seemed to mean
She knit her brows ”You you feel the need of coinning,” said he ”It was the perception of the gone on into the room set apart for them, where food was spread Andre-Louis, as as unlearned in Wo himself suddenly extraordinarily aware of her femininity, that it was she who in some subtle, imperceptible manner so rendered him
”What,” she asked him, with deht himself upon the brink of the abyss
”Fifteen livres a month,” said he, abruptly
AThen she recovered
”Oh, and bed and board,” said she ”Don't be leaving that fro; for your dinner will be going cold
Aren't you co?”
”Haven't you dined?” he cried, and she wondered had she caught a note of eagerness
”No,” she answered, over her shoulder ”I waited”
”What for?” quoth his innocence, hopefully
”I had to change, of course, zany,” she answered, rudely Having dragged hi-block, she could not refrain fro back
”And you left your rand-lady clothes, mademoiselle I understand”
A scarlet flame suffused her face ”You are very insolent,” she said, lamely
”I've often been told so But I don't believe it” He thrust open the door for her, and boith an air which ih it was merely copied from Fleury of the Comedie Francaise, so often visited in the Louis le Grand days, he waved her in ”After you, reater emphasis he deliberately broke the word into its two component parts