The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-01-04
Copyright. 1897, By Max Pemberton.

( curls of which almost touched his ell
bows.
"Ciel." he cried, you have a light
foot, doctor"
Antonio bowed with the grace of
prince bishop.
"At your service, lieutenant" said
he. IF all report be true, you viii
need many light feet for your work in
Paris"
'Satrnes bit his lip. The physicians
words seemed "A reflection upon his
nishap with Coz le Roi
Come" said he. "let us talk of other
| things. Madcmoiselle has promised
! that YOU will amuse me.
81 am here to obey my mistress" said
the old man what is your pleasure,
! lieutenant?'
'Oh, my pleasure is not in question,
| but made moiselle has said
" have said that you will tell him
what the highwayman named Coo le
Roi is doing tonight" cried Corinne,
interrupting suddenly; there is moth
| ing more simple than that eh, An
| tuniO?"
1T is child's task, mademoiselle."
Sartines, who had begun by treating
| the whole thing as an elaborate jest,
| listened to this talk incredulOuSly.
| While he told himself that Antonio's
| claim was absurd, preposterous, ridc-
| ulous, nevertheless the idea that he
| should put the physician to the trial
| was strong and fascinating. He felt
| like one in the presence of a conjuror.
| He would watch the trick closely
| perhaps learn something from it. Be
sides. if he should get any informa-
| ton about Coo le Roi--but that he said,
| was impossible.
Antonio, meanwh bile, had crossed the
great room and had seated himself be
| fore a little table upon which was an
astrolabe IN brass, a lamp with a green
| shade and a large sheet of drawing
| paper all scattered over with hero
| glyphics and strange lettering, like the
| lettering of an eastern manuscript
| When he had turned back the long
| sleeves of his gown and had taken a
| pair of compasses in his hand the doc
| tor bade the others come near.
Monsieur" said he to Sartines, you
desire to know in what occupation the
man Jacques Cabot, sometimes called
| Cog le Roi, has been employed during
the last twelve hours If you will be
good enough to sit by my side and to
| say nothing until the CLOCK snail Slflke
again l will tell you"
The lieutenant, assuring himself that
he was a fool to take part in such
mlummery, sat as the physician direct
ed. Corinne took her stand beside him;
Antonio, resting his head upon his
hands, cried suddenly for less light;
and at the words, lacqueys entered the
room noiselessly and extinguished the
candles. Only the shaded green lamp
remained and from its aureole the fig
ure of the old doctor stood out, mo-
tionless, stern--the figure of some
weird magician risen up from the ages
of the past.
| Five minutes passed, and nothing
was to be heard in the great room but
the ticking of the clock. Sartines
found himself spellbound; Corinne her
self stood like statue, scarce SEEM
ing to breathe. When, at last, An
tonic broke the spell, he did so by be-
ginning to speak in low voice, ac-
companying the words with the tracing
of strange lines upon the paper before
him.
Monsieur" said he, addressing Sar-
tines, but, keeping his eyes upon the
paper, "at II o'clock today Coz lie Ro
was at Soisy, robbing the coach of his
lordship, the duke of Sabran'
"Dieu!" cried Sartnes, rising from
his chair; you say"
I Antonio, without so much as turn
ing his head, continued to draw upor
the paper. Corinne touched the lieu
tenant gently upon the arm and made
a sign to him that he should say moth
ing.
AT 3 O'clock" continued the phySi
sician whose voice was now strong anC
clear as the note of a bell Il find tina
Coz le Roi was at Gros Brois, afteI
STOPPING the coach of the grand maste
of artillery, Comte d'Eu, and robbins
, him of three hundred louis dor
Sang -bleu!" cried Sartines, while III
threw hemself back in his chair ant
laughed heartily, what play. ON
YOU amuse me very well, my dear doc
tor
Antonio ignored the interruption
His head was now so near to the pape
~ ~