Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 8, 1894, Page 10

10 TWO' MAYORS OF BOTTITORT. A Story from the M emoirs of a Minister of France. BY STANLEY Author of “A Gentleman Rotha,” (Capyright, By way of sampliog the diverting eplsodes that will occur from time to time In the most laborious existence, and for the moment reduce the minister to the lovel of the man, I am tempted to narrate an adventure that betell me between Rennes and Vitre, when tho king having preceded me at speed under the pretext of urgency, but really that he might avold the prolix addresses that awalted him in every town, T found myselt no moro minded to suffer. Having sacrificed my ease, thercfore, in two of the more important places, and come within as many stages of Vitre, T determined also on a holiday. Ac- cordingly, directing my baggage and the mumerous escort and suite that attended me —to the full tale of four score horses—to keep the high road, I struck myself Into a byway, intending to seek hospitality for the night at a house of M. de Laval's, and on the second evening to render myselt with a | good grace to the eulogia and tedious mercles of the Vitre townstolk. T kept with me only La Font and two gervants. The day was fine, and the air brisk; the country open, affording many dis- tant prospects which the sun rendered cheer- ful. We rode for some time, therefore, with the gayety of echoolboys released from their tasks, and dining at noon in the lee of one of the great boulders that there dot the plain, took pleasure in applying to the life of courts every evil epithet that came to mind. For a little time afterward we rode as cheerfully, but about 3 in afternoon the sky became overcast, and almost at the same moment we discovered that we had strayed from the track. The country in that dlstrict resembles the more western parts of Brittany, in consisting of huge tracts of bog and moorland strewn with rocks and covered with gorse, which present a cheerful aspect in sunshing, but aro savage and barren to a degree whiri viewed through sheets of rain or under a somber sky. The position there was mot without its discomforts. 1 had taken care to choose a servant who was familiar with the country, but his knowledge seemed now at fault. However, under his direction we retraced our steps, but still without regaining the road, and as a small rain presently began to fall and the day to declive, the landscape which in the morning had flaunted a wild and rugged beauty, changed to a brown and dreary waste eet here and there with ghost like stones. Once astray on this, we found our path besot with sloughs and morasses, among which we saw ever prospect of passing the night, when La Font espied at a little distanco a wind-swept wood that, clothing a low shoulder of the moor, promised at least a change and sheiter. We made toward it, and discovered not only all that we had ex- pected to see, but a path and a guide. The latter was as much surprised to see us as we to seo her, for when we came upon her she was sitting on the bank be- side the path weeping bitterly. On hearing us, however, she sprang up _and we discovered the form of a young girl, barefoot and bare- headed, wearing only a short ragged frock of homespun. Novertheless her face was nelther stapid nor uncomély; and though, at the first alarm, supposing us to be either robbers or hobgoblins—of which last the peoplo of that country are peculiarly fearful —she made as if she would escape across the maor, but she stopped as soon as she heard my voice. 1 asked her gently where we were. At first she did not understand, but the servant who had played the guide so ill, speaking to her in the pathos of th country, she answered that we were near St. Brieue, a hamlet not far from Hottitort, and consider- ably off our road. Asked how far it was to Bottitort, sha answered, between two and three leagues and an indifferent road. We could ride the distance in a couple of hours, and there remained almost as much daylight. But the horses were tired, so, resigning myseif to the prospect of some discomfort, 1 asked her if there was an inn at St. Brieue. “A poor place for your honors,” she an- awered, staring at us in innocent wonder, the forgotten tears not dry on her cheek “Never mind; take us to it,” I answered. She turned at the word and tripped on be- fore us. I bade tho servant ask her, as, weo went, why she had been crying, and learned through him that she had been to| her uncle's, two leagues away, to borrow money for her mother; that the uncle would mot lend it, and that now they would be turned out of their house; that her father was lately dead, and that her mother kept the inn, and owed the money for meal and cider. “At least, she says that she does mot owe | it the man corrected himself, “for her | father paid as usual at Corpus Christi; bul after his death M. Grabot said that he had not pald, and—" " 1 sald. yor of Bottitor ditor?"* “Who is he?” “The c *Yes." “And how much Is owing?" T asked. “Nothing, sho says.” “But how much does he say?" “Twenty crowns.” Doubtless some will view my conduct ou this occasfon with surprise; and wonder why I troubled mys with inquiries 80 minute upen a matter so mean. But these do not consider that ministers are the King's eyes; and that in a state no class s so unim- portant that it can be safely overlooked. Moreover, as the settlement of the finances was one of the objects of my stay in those parts—and I seldom had the opportunity of checking the statements made to me by the farmers and lessees of the taxes, the recelvers, gatherers, and, in a word, all the corrupt class that imparts such views of a| province as suit its interests, I was glad to Jearn anything that threw light on the real condition of the country; the more, as I kad to rocelve at Vitre a deputation of the nota- bles and officials of the district. Accordingly, I continued to put questins to her until, crossing a ridge, we came at| last within sight of the inn, a lonely hous of stone, standing in the hollow of the moor | @ sheltered on one side by a few gnarled trees that took off in a degree from the bleakness of its aspect. The house was of one story only, with a window on either side of the door, and no other appeared in sight; but a little smoke rising from the chimney scemed o promise a better reception than the desolate landscape and the girl's scanty dress had led us to expect. As we drew nearer, however, a thing hap- pened o remarkable as to draw our ai:en- tion in a moment from all these points, iud bring us, gaping, to a standstill. The shu - ters of the two windows were suddenly closed before our eyes with a clap that came sharply on the wind. Then, in & twinkliag, one window flew open again and & man, seemingly naked, bourded from it fled with inconceivable rapidity | across the front of the house and vanished | through the other window, which opened to recelvo him. He had scarcely gained that | shelter before a ceal-black figure followed | him, leaping out of one of the windows and | in at the other with the smne astonishing | swiftness—a swiftness which was so great that before any of us could utter more than | an exclamation, the two figures appeared | again round the corner of the house, in the same order, but this time with so small an interval that the fugitive barely saved him- solf through the window. Once more, whils we stared in stupefaction, they fashed out and i, and this time it seemed to me that as they vanished the black specter weized its victim, ‘When 1 say that all this time the two Bgures uttered no sound, that there was no 1894 by the . giddiest | 18 scared | turn he should spend the night here. J. - WEYMAN. of France,” “My Lady Ete. Author.) other living being in sight, and that on every side of the solitary house the moor, growing each minute more eerie as the day waned, spread to the horizon, the moro superstitious among us may be pardoned if they gave way to their fears. La Font was the first to speak. “Mon Dieu!” he ecried—while the girl moaned in terror, the Breton crossed himself and La Trape looked uncomfortable—"the place fs bewitched! ““Nonsense!" I safd. gir 2" “Only my mother,” she walled. poor mother!"” I silenced her, scolding them all for fools, and her first, and La Font recovering him- selt, did the same. But this was the year of that strange appearance of the specter horse- man at Fontainebleau, of which so much has been said; and my servants, when we had ap- proached the house a little nearer, and it still remained silent and, as it were, dead to the eye, would go no further, but stood in heer terror and permitted me to go on alone with La Foot. I confess that the lone- liness of the house and the dreary waste that surrounded 1t (which seemed to exclude the idea of trickery) were mot without their effect on my spirits, and that as I dismounted and approached the dcor, I felt a kind of chill, not remarkable under the cireum- stances, But the courage of the gentleman differs from that of the vulgar in that he fears yet goes, and I lifted the latch and entered boldly. The seene which met my eyes inside was sufficiently commonplace to reassure me At the farther end of a long bare room draughty, half-lighted, and having an earthen floor, yet possessing that air of homeliness which a wood fire never fails to impart, sat a single traveler, who haq arawn his small tablo under the open chimney, and there, with his feet almost in the fire, was par- taking of a poor meal of black bread and onions. He was a tall, spare man, with sloping shoulders and a long, sour face, of which, as I entered, he gave me the full benefit. I looked round the room, but look as I might I could sce no onme else, nor any- thing that explained what we had witnessed; and I aceosted the man civilly, wishing him good evening. He made an answer, but in- distinctly, and this done, went on with his meal like one who viewed cur arrival with little pleasure; while I, puzzled and aston- ished by the ordinary look of things and tho stiliness of the house, affected to warm my feet at the logs. At length, espying no signs of disturbance anywhere, I asked him it he was alone. “I was, ®ir,” he answered gravely. I was going on to tell him, though reluc- tantly, what we had seen outside, and to ques- tion him upon it, when on a sudden, before T could speak again, he leaned towards me and accosted me with startling abruptuess. “Sir,” he sald, “I should like to have your opinion of Louis XL I stared at him in the most perfect aston- ishment, and was for a moment so com- pletely taken aback that I mechanically re- peated his words. For answer he did so also, ‘The Bleventh Louis?’ I said. “Yes,” he rejoined, turning his pale vis- age full upon me. “What is your opinion of him, sir? He was a man?" “Well,” 1 sald, shrugging my shoulders, “I take that for granted.” I began to think that the traveler was demented. “And a king® “Yes, I suppose s0,” T answered uously. “I never heard it doubted. He leaned towards me and spoke with the most_eager impressiveness. A man—and a Kking!” he said. “Yet neither a manly king, nor a kingly man! You take me?"’ “Yes,” 1 said, impatiently. “I seo you mean."” “‘Neither a kingly man, nor a manly king ho repeated with solemn gusto. “You take me elearly, I think?" I had no stomach for further f 1 was about to answer him with some sharp- ness—though I could not for the lifs of me tell whether he was mad or an eccen- tric—when a harsh voice shrieked in my ear, “Boh!” and in a twinkling a red figure appeared bounding and whirling in the mid- dle of the kitchen; now springing into the air until its head touched the rafters, now eddying round and round the floor in the gyrations. At the first glance, startled by the voice in my ear, I recolled; but a second disclosing what it was, and the secret of our alarm outside, I masked my movement, and when the man brought his performance to a sudden stop, and fall- “Who s in the house, “Oh, my ontempt- what noleries, and | Ing on one knee in an attitude of exagger- ated respect held out his cap, I was ready for him. “Why, you knave,” I said, “you should be whipped, not rewarded. Who gave you leave to play prenks on travelers?” He looked at me with a droll smile on his round merry face, which at its gravest was a thing to laugh at. “Let him whip who " he said, with roguish impudence. “Or if there is to be whipping, my lord, whip Louis XL Thus reminded, I turned to traveler, but my eyes had no his than he twisted his visage a smile—if smile it could be called—that wherever there was a horse collar he must have won the prize. To hide my amusement, I asked them what they were. ‘Mounte- banks?” I said curtly. “Your lordship has pricked the garter oft-hand,” the merry .man answered ‘cheer- fully. “You see before you the renowned Pierre Paladin—viola!—and Philibert Le Grand! of the Breton fairs, monsieur.” “But why this foolery—here?" 1 said. “We took you for another, monsieur, swered, “Whom you intended to frighten “Precisely, your grace.” “Well, you are nice rogues,” I sald, look- ing at him. "o is he,” he answered, undaunted. I left the matter there for a moment, while I summoned La Font and the servants, whose rage, when, entering a-tiptoe and with some misgiving, they discovered how they had been deceived, and by whom, was scarcely to be restrained, even by my presence. However, aided by Philibert’s comicalities, I presently sccured a truce, and the twe strollers va- cating in my honor the table by the fire— though they had not the slightest notion who I was—we were soon on good terms. I had taken the precaution to bring a meal with me, and while La Trape and his companion un- packed it, and I dried my riding boots, I asked the players who it was they meant to frighten. They were not very willing to tell me, but at length confessed to my astonishment that it was M. Grabot. “Grabot—Grabot!"" T said, striving to rec- ollect where I had heard the name, “Phe mayor of Bottitort? The solemn man made an atroclous grimace, Then, “Yes, monsieur, the mayor of Botti- tort,” he sald frankly. “A year ago he put Philibert in the stocks for a riddle; that is his affair. And the woman of this house has more than once befriended me, and he is for turning her out for a debt she does not owe, and that is my affair. However, your lordshin's arrival has saved him this time." “You expected him here this evening, then?" “He 18 coming,” he answered with more than his usual gloom. ‘‘He passed this way thie morning, and announced that on his re- We found the good wife all of a tremble when we arrived. He Is & hard man, monsieur,” the mountebank continued bitterly. “She eried after him that she hoped God would change his heart, but he only answered that, even if St. Brieuc changed his body—you know the monseigneur, doubtless—he should the solemn sooner met into so wry “And here he is," the other, who had been looking out of one of the windows, eried, “L see his lantern coming down the hilL And by St. Brieue, I have it! J bave it \h‘ THE OM droll continued, suddenly, spinning round in a wild dance of triumph on the floor, and then as suddenly stopping and falling into an attitude before us, “Monsieur, # you will help us, I have the richest jest ever played. Plerre, listen. You, gentlemen, all listen! We will pretend that he is changed. He is a pompous man; he thinks the mayor of Botti- tort equal to the Saint Pere. Well, Plerre skall be M. Grabot, mayor of Bottitort. You, monsieur, that we may give him enough of mayors, shall be the mayor of Gol, and I will bs the mayor of St. Just. This gentleman shall swear to us, so shall the servants. For him, he does not exist. Oh, we will punish him finely. “But, 1 said, astonished by the very audacity of the rogue's proposition, “‘you do not flatter yourselt that you will deceive him?" “We shall, monsieur, ho answerd confldently. for it we shall.” The thing had little of dignity in it, and I wonder now that I complied; but I have always shared with the king, my master, a taste for drolleries of the kind suggested, while nothing that I had as yet heard of this Grabot was of a nature to induce me to spare him. Seeing that La Font was tickled with the Idea, and that the servants were a-grin, and the more eager to trick others as they had just been tricked themselves, I was temoted to consent. After this the preparations took not a minute, Philibert covered his fool's clothes with a cloak, and their table was drawn nearer to the fire, 5o as with mine to take up the whote hearth. La Trape fell into an attitude behind me, and the Breton, adopting a refinement suggested at the last moment, was sent out to intercept Grabot before he entered, and tell him that the inn was full and that he had better pass on. The knave did his business Grabot, being just such a man as the strollers had described to us, the alterca- tion on the thresholl was of itself the most amusing thing in the world. “Who?' we heard a loud, coarse voice exelaim. *“Who ye say are here, “The mayor of Botti ‘Mille diables! “The mayor of Battitort and the mayors of Gol and St. Just," the servant repeated, as it he noticed nothing amiss “That is a lie,” the new comer replied with a snort of triumph, “and an impudent ore. But you have got the wrong sow by the ear this time.” “Why, man,” a nasal and rustical know the ma it you will help,” 1 ‘will be warrant so well that third voice, struck | yor of Bottitort? “I should,” my Breton answered bluntly, and making, as we guessed a stand before them, “for I am his servant, and he is at this moment at his meat.” “The mayor of Bottitort Yor." M. Grabot?" “And you are his servants?' “T have thought so for some Breton answered contemptuously. The mayor fairly roared in his indignation. You—his servant! The mayor of Bott tort’s?” he cried in a voice of thunder. “I'll| tell you what you are; you are a liar—a liar, man, that is what you are! Why, you fool, I am the mayor of Bottitort mysel’. Now, do you see how you have wasted yourself? Out of my way! Jehan, fallow me in. I shall look into this. There is some knavery here, but it Simon Grabot cannot get to the bottom of it, the mayor of Bottitort will. Follow me, I say. My servant, indeed. Come, come!” And, still grumbling, he flung open the door, which the Breton had Iaft ajar, and stalked in upon us, fuming and blowing out his cheeks for all the world like a bantam cock with its feathers erect. He was a short, pussy man: with a short nose, a wide face, and smail eyes. But had he been Caesar and Alexander rolled into one, he could not have crossed the threshold with a more tre- mendous assumption of dignity. Once in- side, he stood and glared at us, somewhat taken aback, I think, for the moment by our numbers; but recovering himseif almost im- mediately, he strutted toward us, and, with- out uncovering or saluting us, he asked in a deep voice who was responsible for the man outside. “I am, sir,” the graver mountebank an- swered, looking at the stranger with a sober air of surprise. “He Is my servant.” “Ah!"” the mayor exclaimed, with a wither- ing glance, “And who, may I osk, are you? “You may ask, certainly,” the player an- swered dryly. “But until you take off your hat 1 shall not answer.” The mayor gas at this . rebuff, and turned, if it were possible, a shade redder; but_he uncovered “Now, I do not mind telling you,” Pierre continued, with 2 mild dignity admirably as- sumed, “that I am Simon Grabot, and have the honor to be mayor of Bottitort.” “You?" somewhat “don’t you time,” the I; though, perhaps, un- I looked to see an explosion was too far gone. 'Why, you swindling im- postor,” he said, with something that was almost admiration in his tone, “you are the very prince of cheats! The king of cozen- crs! But for all that, let me tell you that you have chosen the wrong role this time. Tor 1—1, sir, am the mayor of Bottitort, the very man whose name you have taken! Plerre stared at him in composed silence, which his comrade was the first to break. s ho mad?" he asked In a low voice, The grave man shook his head. The mayor heard and saw, and getting no other answer, began to tremble between pas- sion and a natural, though ill-defined, mis- giving, which the silent gaze of so large a party—tor we were all looking at him com- passionately—was well calculated to produce. “Mad?" he cried. “No, but some one is. Sir,” he continued, turning to La Font with a gestuze in which an appeal and impatience were curiously blended, “Do you know this man?” “M, Grabot? Cortainly,” he answered, with- out blushing, “and have these ten years.” “And you say that he is M. Grabot?" the poor mayor retorted, his jaw falling ludic- rously. “Certainly, who should he be?" The mayor looked round him, sudden beads of sweat on his brow. “Mon Dieu!" he cri:d. “You are all in it. Here, you, do you knuw thia person?” La Trape, to whom he addressed himself, shrugged his shoulders. “I should,” he said. “The mayor is pretty well known about here."” “The mayor?" “But T am the mayor—I, swered eagerly, tapping him on in the most absurd manner. know me, my friend?" “I never saw you before, to my knowl- edge,” the raseal answered contemptuously; “and T know this eountry pretty well. I should think that you have bsen crossing St. Brieuc's brook, and forgotten to say your—"" “Hush but the mayor rabot an- the breast “Don’t you the stout player interposed with soma sharpness. “Let him alone. Le bon | Dieu knows that such a thing may happen to the best of us.” The mayor clapped his hand to his head. “Sir,” he sald almost humbly, addressing the last speaker, “I seem to know your voice. Your name, if you please? “Fracasze,” he answered pleasantly, “I am mayor of Gol. ““You—Fracat mayor of Gol?" oxclaimed between rage and terror Fracasse i3 a tall man. [ know well as I know my brother.” The pseudo-Fracasse smiled, contradict him., The mayor wiped the moisture from his brow. He had all the characteristics of an obstinate man; but if there s one thing which 1 have found in a long career more true than another, it Is that no one can resist the statements of his fellows. So much, I verily believe, is the case, that if ten men maiutain biack to be white, the eleventh will presently be brought into their opinion. Besides, the mayor had a currish side. He looked piteously from one to an- other of us, bis cheeks seemed to grow in a moment pale and flabby, and he was on the point of whimpering, when at the last mo- ment he bethought him of his servant, and turned to him in a spurt of sudden thank- fulness, “Why, Jehan, man, I had forgotten you,” he said. ‘“Are thess men mad, or am 17" But Jehan, a simple rustic, was in a state of ludicrous bewilderment.” “Dol, mi ter, T don't know," he stuttered, rubbing his head. But T am myself,” the mayor crisd, in & most ridiculous tone of remonstrance. Dol, afid I don't know,” the man whim- pered. “I do believe that there is a change in you. I never saw you look the like be- fore. And I never said any pater either. Grabot “But him as but did not Holy saints!" the poor fool continued pite- ously, “I wish I were at home, And there, for gl 1 knp){my wite has got ln«lher! man.” b He began to hiubber at this, which to us was the most ludicrous thought, se that it was all we gould do to restrain our laughter. But the ma¥or daw things in another light. Shaken by your steady persistence in our story, and astounided by our want of respect, the defection of his follower utterly cowed | Rim. Aftey staring wildly about him for | a moment, Me fairly turned tall, and sat | down on an old hox by the door, where, with | his hands on his'kness, he looked out beforo | him with swehan expression of chap-fallen bewildernient as, nearly discovered our plot by throwing us ato itk of laughter. | Stll he was nét: perswaded; for, from timn | to time, her roused himself, and lifting his head east suspicious glances at our party. | But the two stroflers, who were now in their | element, played their parts with so mueh craft and delicacy, and with suca an infinity | of humor besides, that everything he over- heard plunged him deeper In the slough They knew something of local affairs, anl called one another mayor very naturalty; ani mentioning their wives, let drop other scraps | of information that, catching his ear, mad:| the wratched man every now and then sit up as if & wasp had stung him. One story i1 particular which the false mayor told—anl which, it appeared, was to the knowledge of all the country round, the real mayor's stocic | aneedote—had an_absurd effect upon him. | He straightened himself, listened as if his lite depended upon, it, and when he hearl the well known ending, uttered doubtless in something of his old tone, he collapsed int) | himself like a man who had no longer faith in anything. Presently of common disperse the fog. Ho his eye grow bright, pugnacity would com= | back to him. He would appear—this mora than once—to be on the point of rising t» chullenge us. But these occasions were ay skillfully met as they were casily detected; | and as the vogues had invariably flung hini back into his old state of dazad bewilderment. | while it well-nigh killed us with stifisd mirth, | they only gave ever new point to the jest. This, to be brief, was carried on until | retired; and probably the two strollers would | have kept it up longer if the Indicrous deubt | whether ha was himself, which they hal lodged in the mayor's mind, had not at las spurred him to action. An hour before mid | night, feeling it rankle intolerably, I suppose, | he sprang up on a sudden, dragged the door open, darted out with the air of a madman | and in a moment was lost in the darknesn| of the moor. | When I rose in the morning, therefore, | 1 found him gone, the strollers looking glum, and the good wife and her girl between tears | 1 reproaches. I could not but feel on| pirt that I had somewhat stooped in the night's diversion, but before i had timn! to reflect much on that an unexpecetd trait in the strollers’ conduct reconciled me t| this odd experience. They proposed to leave when [ did, but a little b>fore tha| start they camo fo me and set before mo very ingenuously that the woman of the house might suffer through our jest; if I would help her therefore, they would sub- cribe 2 crowns so that she might have a substantial sum to offer on account of her debt As I took this to be the greater | part of their capital, and judged for other sons that. the offer was genuine, I re- ved it in the best part, and found their g00d nature no less pleasant than their fool- | ery. 1 handed over 3 crowns .or cur share, | and on that we parted; they out with thelr bundles strapped to their backs, and 1 waited somewhat impatiently for La Trape| and the Brelort to bring round the horses. Before these appeared, howover, La Font, whose was at the door, cried out that the two players, were coming back, and going to the window I saw with astonishment a whole troop, some. mounted and some on foot, hurrying down the hill after them. For a moment. I felt some alarm, supposing it to b a scheme of Epernon’s to seize my person, and 1!cursed the impudence which had led ma to expose myself in this soli- tary place. But a second glanca showing | me that the mayor of Bottitort was amongst the foremost, 1 repented aimost as seri- ously of the unlucky trifiing that had landed mo in this foolish plight. I cven debated, whether T and, if it were possible, get clear befors they arrived, ‘but the rueful faces of the two players as they appeared breathless in the doorway, and the liking I had taken for tho rascals, decid>d me to stand my ground. “What Is it?" 1 sald “Tho mayor, mousieur,” Philibert azswered while Plerre pursed up his lips with gloomy gravity. I fear it will not stop at the stocks this time,” the rogue continued with grimace. His comrade muttered something about a rod and a fool's back, but M. Grabot's en- tranea cut his witticism short. 'he mayor, betwean shame and rage, and the ifica- tion of his revenge, was almost bursting, and the moment he caught sight of us opened “All, M. de Gol; wo have them all!" he cried cxultingly. “Now they shall smart d upon it, it is some deep laid schem> of that party. I have said so.” “But the mayor of Gol, a stout, big, placid man, looked at us doubtfully. ““Well,” he sald, “I know these two; they aro strolling mounte- banks, honest knaves enough, but always in some misehlef.” “What, strolling clowns?" Joined, his face falling. “Ay, and you may depend upon it, some joke of theirs,” his friend answered, his eyes twinkling. “I begin to thirk you would have done better if you had waited a Tittl= before bringing M. le Comte into the matter."” “Ah, but there are these two,” M. cried, he reeovered from the mom nic into which the other’s words had thrown him. “Depend upon it they are the chie? movers. What else but treason could they mean by asserting that one of them was mayor of Bottitort? By denying my title? By setling up other officers than thosa to whom his gracious majesty has dele- gated his authority?"” “Umph!"’ his companion cried In tri-| umph. “But T intend to know them, and to know a good deal about them. Cuard the wind>w there,” he continued fussily. *“Whore is my clerk? Is M. de Laval coming?" Two or three cried obsequiously that he crossed the hill, and would arrive diately. Hearing this, and thinking it more be- coming not to enter into an altercation, 1 kept my seat and the scornful silence I had | hitherto maintained. The two mayors had brought with them a posse of busybodies— huissiers, constables, tip-staves and the like, and these all gaped upon us as if they saw beforo them the most notable traitors of the age. The women of the house wept In a corner, and the strollers shrugged their shoulders and strove to appear at their ea But the only person who felt the indifference which they *assumed was La Font, who, obnoxious to none of the annoyances which foresaw, could hardly restrain his mirth at | tho denouement which he anticipated. Meanwhile the mayor, foreseeing a very different tasue, stood blowing out his cheeks and fixing us with his littla eyes with an expression of dignity that would have pleased me vastly if I had been free to enjoy it. But the reflection that Laval's presence, which | would cut the knot of our difficulties, would aiso place me at the mercy of his wit, did not enabls me to contemplate it with entire indifference. By-and-by We heard him dismount, and a moment lster he came i1 with a gentieman and two or three armed servants. He did not at once ses me, but as the crowd made way for him he addressad himself sharply to M. Grabot. “Well, have you got them?" he said “Cortainly, M. le comte. “On! very well. Now for the particulars, then. You must stats your charge quickly, for T have (o be in Vitre today “He alleged that he had been appointed mayor of Bottitert,” Grabot answered “Umph! I don't know?’ M. de Laval mut- tered, looking round with a frown of dis- content. “I hops that you have not brought me hither on a fool's errand. Which one?"* “That one,” the mayor said, polnting to the solemn man, whose gravity and deprestioa were now something preternatural. “On!” M. de Laval grumbled. “But that Is mot all, I suppose. What of the athers?" M. Grabot pointed to me. *That one.” He got no fusther, for M. Laval, springing forward, sezed my hand and saluted me warmly. “Why, your excellency,” he cried, In & tono of boundless surprise, “what are you doing in this galore? All last evening I waited for you, at my house, and mow—'" “Here * I answered jocularly, M. lo comte!" T dou't under- however, would again would raise his head, something of his old an effort sense it should mount M. Grabot re- it fe abot | tary had imme- “Don’t ask me.” DAILY BEf:JSATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1894 Overcoats and Ulsters ARE IN THE SOUP! Too warm to sell Overcoats so we will lar cut. at $10.00 worth as high as $11. each; worth $17.80. Sizes from 84 to 50. force the sale of SUITS, and we put about 800 of them all at one price, some of them They consistoffancy Cassimeres and Cheviots, and all kinds of ‘weaves, at sizes from 84 to 44, $6.80 each. Our Black Clay Worsted Suitsin Cutaways as well as in Sack, Straight or Round Cut, Bound or Plain Stitched, at $8 each; sizes from 84 to 44, Shorts and Stouts and Extra Sizes. A line of fancy weaves in silk, mixed and basket cloths, neat, dark effects, cut to fit a short and stout person, extra sizes or regu- Canfit any one in these garments M. H. Cook Clothing Co., Successors to (8th and Farnam Streets, Omaha. I said. ““Perhaps your friend the mayor can tell_you.” “But, monsieur, T do not understand,” the nayor answered piteously, his mouth agape with horror, his fat cheeks turning in a mo- ment all culors. ““This gentleman, whom you eem to know, M. le comte—"" is the marquis de Rosny, president of the council, blockhead!” Laval cried irately. ““You madman! you {diot!” he continued, as light broke fn upon him, and he saw that it was indeed on a fool's errand that he had bsen roused so early. “Is this your conspiracy? Have you dared to bring me here—'" But I thought that it was time to interfere. “The truth is,” T said, “that M. Grabot here is not 0 much to blame. He was the victim of a trick which these rascals played on him; and in an idle moment I let it go on. That is the whole secret. However, I forgive him for his officiousness since it brings us to- gether, and I shall now have the pleasure of your company to Vitre.” Laval assented heartily to this, and I did not think fit to tell him more, nor did he in- quire, the mayor's stupidity passing current for all. For M. Grabot himself, I think that I never shw a man more completely con- founded. He stood staring with his mouth open; and, as much deserted as the statesman who had fallen from office, had not the least credit even with his own sycophants, who to a man deserted him and flocked about the mayor of Gol. Though I had no reason to him, and, indeed, thought him well pun- d, 1 took the opporiunity of saying a word to him before T mounted; which, though it was only a hint that he should deal gently with the woman of the house, was received with servility equal to the arrogance he had before displayed; and I doubt not it had all the effact I desired. For the strollers, T did not forget them, but bade them hasten to Vitre, where I would see a performance. They did so, and hitting the fancy of Zamet, who chanced to be sdll there, and who thought that he saw profit in them, they came on his invitation to Paris, where they took the court by storm. So that an episode tri- fling in itself, and such as on my part re- quires some apology, had for them conse- Guences of no little importance. ———— No menu is complete without Cook’s Extra Dry Imperial Champagne on it. If not on it ask for it. ——— Fortune from u Ko Here Is a pretty interesting story about the origin of that most beautiful of flowers, the American beauty rose, says the Balti- N Herald. The late George Bancroft, besides being a historian and scholar, was one of the first amateur ros> growers in Ameries. Every year he imported cuttings from the leading flower growers of Europe. The king of Prussia, when old Kaiser Wii- llam was king, allowed the American his- torian to have a slip of whatever he might fancy In the royal conservatories. Mr. Ban- crofi's gardener used to cultivate some of bis roses in an old house away out on F, or perhaps it was G street, above Twenty- second street, in the west end-of Washington, D. C. Mrs, Grant had a florist named Fleld in charge of the white house conservatory. He was a rose grower of rare merit and skill in his artistic work. One day he happened into the od bulldiog where Mr. Bancroft's gardener potted his plants and budded his roses. Over in a corner he observed a rose of a variety utterly unknown to him and of won- derful size and perfection in form and color. “Where did this come from?' he carelessly inquired of his rose-growing confrere. “Oh, it is an offshoot from some cuttings we im- ported from Germany,” the man replied. It was evident to Mr. Field that the other did not in the least comprehend the value of the new plant. After some talk Mr. Field bought the cuttings he had seen for $5. A yoar thereafter, when he had propagated his new purchase and become convinced that he had & new ayd very valuable variety of rose, which he named the American beauly, he sold his find for $5,000, the most wonderful result of the investmént of §5 on record. To follow his luck a little farther, Mr. Fleld invested his easily oarned $5,000 in lands near Washington, which in a little less than three years were sold for $50,000. Truth Is sometimes stranger than fiction. e Oregon Kidnéy Tea cures all kidney trou- bles. Trial size, 26 cents. All druggists. Columbia Clothing Co., evory now and then you shoula cl for your NERVOUS SYSTEM, most hoalthy porson, botter satisfaction and produc Try it and see for yours by droggists. We meax of things that cause sickness and d nse and purity your system? 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