Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-16

He went out, asking below for the nesresI
BARRIERS.
They had good laugh at this Partisan,
who wanted to get shaved at o'clock al
night, aud on a Thursday, too. Still, they
gave him the address he asked for. Turn
to the right, then to the right again, then to
the left. It's one of the first houses on the
right-hand sde." This was not too explicit,
| but he said to himself ''I shall see the sign
board all right"
The signboard? If there is no signboaro
there will be sure to be brass plate at the
end of pole, the helmet OF Mamoflno.
The distance was longer than he had ex-
pected, but at length he caught sight OF a
brass plate swaying in the wind and creak-
ing on its hook. He reaches the shop; 1t is
closed. He knocks; no answer. He keeps
Oh knocking. A sergeant de villecomes up.
what are you up to there ~
''You can see for yourself. 1 want to get
in and be shaved"
''You can't get in, and you won't be
shaved. Be of to bed.
"Come, now"
Don't resist. You are suspicious per-
son, young man; and if you continue to
make row I shall have to arrest you"
NJ. Taupin, seeing there was no help for
it, politely took off his hat and explained
his situation and his wants to the sergeant
de vile. He touched his heart.
''Sir," said the representative of author
ity, these cheap BARRIERS only shave O.
mornings. 1 will take you to a hair
dresser's." This he did. Never had our
friend found himself attended to in such a
delicate luxury. He paid without too deep
sigh the 20 sous asked for, and started of
at trot to return TO his dear Leonie. He
was running along, divided between the
hope of kiss which was 10 greet him and
the fear of the reproaches that were to be
expected after his long absence, when he
pulled up short from the doubt entering his
mind: "Am 1 going the right way?"
He looked round. He was in a little
street, dimly lit by two lamps a long way
from one another, which cast an intermittent
light through the rain: Neither shops, nor
passers-by. He suddenly had the feeling of
being lost in a labyrinth. The first thing to
do was to get out of the gloom. He retraced
his steps, persuaded that he would promptly
hit once more upon the brightly-lit square
he had Just left; but he soon saw that he
had lost his way. In the distance he heard
a halt-hour strike; then, after what seemed
a century, three-quarters
SIT is close on 9 o'clock. What is she
doing? what will she think?"
In an instant the whole horror of the situa-
find his way back to an inn of which he
didn't know the name, an inn Of the poorest
kind, in town like Rouen, an inn situated
in a street, or rather in lane, of which he
knew neither the name nor the neighbor-
hood? To be sure, he knew we'll enough
that matters conld be made all right next
| day by the aid of the police; he was not in a
wood. But till next day was an eternity!
To condemn that dear child to so much
anxiety for SC long, in such state of isola-
tion, on her very wedding day. was enough
to make man mad! As he continued to
run, he felt his head giving way.
At length he hears steps in these deserted
| alleys; he gets glimpse of passer-by. At
all hazards he follows him. "Sir." he
shouts, with the whole force of his lungs
''sir, have lost my way. For goodness
sake, help me to find it again. Sir! Sirp'
The man took long strides. as though trying
to escape from drunkard or a malefactor.
81 can't do better than follow him, thought
Faupin. 81 shall be sure then not to be
going in circle" His reasoning proved to
be lust. In another minute he passed from
profound darkness to brilliant light. He
was in front of the vestibule of the Grand
Theater. Men! Men at last!
He felt momentary joy which was soon
dashed by a poignant thought. He knew
his inn was, nor the name Of the inn
He had gone out with the Indifference
of q man who has only so PAGES to
walk. That you can lose yourself at night
in big city. he had not so much as sus-
pected. Perhaps the innkeeper gave him
his address when he picked him up at the
stationi He feverishly turns his pockets in
side out. Nothing. A tiny purse contain
ing 40 francs Che had so, hut as wise pre-
caution against thieves he had given half to
Leonie); the memorandum book used for
his class notes; a Guide JoaRne; LIE Petit
Journal. That was all.
What was to be done? He looks at the
people passing in front of him, endeavoring
to find the face of some good, kind man, the
sort of man capable of giving good advice
He goes up to several, and stops when on the
point of spraking, owing to some gesture or
look which seems to him ill-omened. At
last summoning up all his courage:
''Sir," he says to a pleasant-looking old
man. But the plasant-looking old man
irowns, and disdaintully throws him a two
sou piece.
''I'm not asking for aims, sirl 1 am not
a beggarl l am professor"
Labor wasted; the stranger, maybe a bit
shame faced at his mistake, hurriedly makes
off
Taupin, whose head is completely turned,
and who is out of breath after his wild Jour
ney, sits down on bench and becomes lost
in thought. To find his inn without know
ing its name is impossible. How discover
the name? There had been five or six
omnibuses in the station yard and five or six
touts at most. These touts are doubtless al
ways the same. If he only knew the name
of the nve or SIX inns which include his own,
that would be much; nav, everything. He
would take commissionaire and have
himself conducted from door to door until
he had succeeded; he would load the COM
missionaire with gold. It's no longer any
question of economy. Leonle's anxiety
must not be prolonged, and she must not
pass her wedding night in fear and solitude
He feels soothed now that his course is
determined on, and that he thinks himself
sure of success He asks himself if he was
not mad Just now. You can't lose yourself
in town like Rouen. There are police
who know all the inns. The first step is to
seek the police. There, sure enough, is a
sergeant de vile on his beat in front of the
theater. He politely takes off his hat:
"Sir," he says-But he stops short as he
recognizes the sergeant who took him to the
hair dresser's. Lie is full of these strange
meetingsl The sergeant, too, recognizes
him.
''YOu again2" he says in no very benevo-
lent tone.
FYes, it's /, and you can do me great
service" He begins to blurt out his story;
but he notices two things, as he tells it:
first, that it sounds shockingly improbable,
and next that he tells it wretchedly. He
stammers, gets confused, becomes incompre-
hensible. 81 seem like drunken man."
he says at length, at the very moment when
the sergeant arrives, on his side, at the same
conclusion.
''You can finish your explanation at the
police station" says the sergeant, taking
hold of his collar.
At the police stationl Like q malefactor
or q vooahnndf A. &ho ,o.l;oo rkokso. a