deeply
regretted, of the slices of Seville oranges that should have formed a
part of the dish--being an obligatory accessory of roast goose--and they
with charming courtesy smilingly expressed their willingness to overlook
for this once such a culinary solecism.

"Now," said Herode, when nothing remained of the goose but its
well-picked bones, "we must try to decide upon what is best to be done.
Only three or four pistoles are left in the exchequer, and my office as
treasurer bids fair to become a sinecure. We have been so unfortunate as
to lose two valuable members of the troupe, Zerbine and poor Matamore,
rendering many of our best plays impossible for us, and at any rate we
cannot give dramatic representations that would bring in much money here
in the fields, where our audience would be mainly composed of crows,
jackdaws, and magpies--who could scarcely be expected to pay us very
liberally for our entertainment. With that poor, miserable, old horse
there, slowly dying between the shafts of our chariot, hardly able
to drag one foot after another, we cannot reasonably expect to reach
Poitiers in less than two days--if we do then--and our situation is an
unpleasantly tragic one, for we run the risk of being frozen or starved
to death by the wayside; fat geese, already roasted, do not emerge from
every thicket you know."

"You state the case very clearly," the pedant said as he paused, "and
make the evil very apparent, but you don't say a word about the remedy."

"My idea is," rejoined Herode, "to stop at the first village we come
to and give an entertainment. All work in the fields is at a standstill
now, and the peasants are idle in consequence; they will be only too
delighted at the prospect of a little amusement. Somebody will let
us have his barn for our theatre, and Scapin shall go round the town
beating the drum, and announcing our programme, adding this important
clause, that all those who cannot pay for their places in money may do
so in provisions. A fowl, a ham, or a jug of wine, will secure a seat in
the first row; a pair of pigeons, a dozen eggs, or a loaf of bread, in
the second, and so on down. Peasants are proverbially stingy with their
money, but will be liberal enough with their provisions; and though
our purse will not be replenished, our larder will, which is equally
important, since our very lives depend upon it. After that we can push
on to Poitiers, and I know an inn-keeper there who will give