Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-06-15
The Treasure Of Franchard.
By ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
CHAPTER |.
BY THE DYING MoUNTEBANK.

BY TIE DfINt MOUN1EBANK.
They had sent for the doctor from Bourron
before g. About some villagers came round
for the performance, and were told how mat
ters stood 1t seemed liberty for a mountc-
bank to fall i'll like real people, and they
made Off again in dudgeon. BY 10 Mime.
Tentailon was grRvely alarmed, and had
sent down the street for DR.. Desprez.
The doctor was at work over his manu-
scripts in one corner of the little dining
room, and his wife was asleep over the fire in
another, when the messenger arrived.
"Saprstim said the doctor, you should
have sent for me before. 1t was n case for
hurry" And he followed the messenger as
he was, i'll his slippers and skull cap
The inn was rot thirty yards away, but
the messenger did not stop there; he went in
at ono door and out by another into the
court, and then led tho way by n flight of
steps beside the stable to the loft where the
mountebank lay sick. If Dir. Desprez were
to live 900 years he would never forget his
arrival in that room, for not only was the
scene picturesque, but the moment mado a
date in his existence. We reckon our lives
| hardly know why, from the date of our
first sorry appearance i'll society, as if from
a first humiliation, for no actor can come
upon the stage with a worse grace. Not to
90 further back, which would he Judged toe
curious, there are subsequently many moving
and decisive accidents in the lives of all
which would make ar logical a period as thin
of birth. And here, for instance, DR..
Desprez n man past 40, who had made what
is called failure in life, and was moreover
married. found himself at n new point of dc
parture when he opened the door Of the lot'
above Tentallon's stable.
1t was large place, lighted only by
single candle set upon the floor. The mount,
bank lay on his back upon pallet, a larst
man, with u quiXotic nose inflamed with
drinking Nine. Tentaillon stopped over
him, applying hot water and mustard en-
brocation to his feet; and on chair close bJ
dangling. These three were the only occu-
pants, except the shadows. But the shadows
were company in themselves; the extent of
the room exaggerated them to a gigantic
size, and from the low position of the candle
the light struck upward and produced de-
formed foreshortcninGS. r. muunic hauk'>
profile was enlarged upon The wall in ra;icl-
ture, and it was strangr to $500 hls nose
shorten and lcngihcn rs tine hnmr was l.""n
about by dr,nghto. As for Nm" T".' ...,
her shadow was no moro thrl u alo. ""'uP
of shoulders, with now AMI a.N.H ... .'.-
pherc of head The chair . ..,t's. '.d
out as long rs stills, AMI ia. nos .t. 90 ... .
atop of them, like ciold, IN IT,. cas,. II
the roof
1t was the boy who took the doc: ,.''. :.....'v.
He had a great archcl Skull. the io; rad
and the hands of II musician, an u l..r Of
haunting eyes 1t was not merely that those
eyes We're large, or steady, or tn" su..'St
rudy brown. There was look in them be
sides, which thrilled the doctor, and made
him half uneasy. He was sure he had Seen
such look before, and yet he could not re-
member how or where. 1t was as if this boy,
who was quite II stranger to him, had the
eyes of an old friend or All old enemy And
the boy would give him no peace; he seemed