And, then, one night, when dancing was over, and the couples were going
away with their arms round each other's waists, a terrible screaming was
heard at the corner of the woods through which those going to the next
village, had to pass. It was Josephine, pretty Josephine, for she was
brave as well, and when her screams were heard, they ran to her
assistance, and they arrived only just in time to rescue her, half
strangled from _Mademoiselle's_ clutches.

The idiot had watched her, and had thrown himself upon her in order to
treat her as the other young fellows did the girls, but she resisted him
so stoutly that he took her by the throat and squeezed with all his
might until she could not breathe, and was nearly dead.

In rescuing Josephine from him, they had thrown him on the ground, but
he jumped up again immediately, foaming at the mouth and slobbering, and
exclaimed:

"I am not a girl any longer, I am a young man, I am a young man, I tell
you."

And he proudly essayed to convince them that it was so, but the evidence
that he could adduce was very slight.




THE MOUNTEBANKS


Compardin, the clever manage of the _Eden Réunis Théâtre_, as the