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                          THE STANDARD DRAMA.

                          The Acting Edition.

                              NO. CCXXV.


                            THE ROMANCE OF
                           A POOR YOUNG MAN.

                  A Drama, adapted from the French of
                           OCTAVE FEUILLET,

           BY MESSRS. PIERREPONT EDWARDS AND LESTER WALLACK.

                          TO WHICH ARE ADDED

    A Description of the Costume--Cast of the Characters--Entrances
    and Exits--Relative Positions of the Performers on the Stage, and
    the whole of the Stage Business

    Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by LESTER
    WALLACK, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the
    Southern District of New York.

                               NEW YORK:
                       SAMUEL FRENCH, PUBLISHER,
                    122 NASSAU STREET, (UP STAIRS.)




CHARACTERS REPRESENTED.


    _Manuel, Marquis de Champcey_, Mr. Lester Wallack.

    _Doctor Desmarets,--formerly of the French Army_, Mr. Brougham.

    _M. de Bevannes--a man of the world_, Mr. Walcot.

    _Gaspar Laroque--an aged man, formerly Captain of a Privateer_,
          Mr. Dyott.

    _Alain--a confidential domestic_, Mr. Young.

    _M. Nouret--a Notary_, Mr. Levere.

    _Yvonnet--a Breton Shepherd_, Mr. Baker.

    _Henri_, Mr. Oliver.

    _Louis_, Mr. Coburn.

    _Madame Laroque--Daughter-in-Law to Gaspar_, Mrs. Vernon.

    _Marguerite--her daughter_, Mrs. Hoey.

    _Mlle Helouin--a Governess_,

    _Madame Aubrey--a relative of the Laroque family_,
          Miss Mary Gannon.

  _Louise Vauberger--formerly nurse to Manuel, now keeper of a lodging
          house_, Mrs. Walcot.

  _Christine--a Breton peasant girl_, Miss Fanny Reeves.

  _Guests, Servants, Peasantry, &c., &c._


The events of the Drama take place (during the 1st Act) in Paris,
afterward in the Province of Britanny.

Costumes of the present day.

The Overture, incidental Music, and Choruses composed and arranged by
Mr. Robert Stoepel.




A POOR YOUNG MAN.




TABLEAU I.


    _A Room, simply furnished--Table, Chairs, Arm Chair, Secretaire,
    Side Table--Door C._

    _MADAME VAUBERGER peeps in L._

_Madame Vauberger._ No; he has not yet returned. [_Enters._] Things
cannot go on in this manner much longer--I shall have to speak out, and
plainly too. And why not? Surely he won't take it ill from me--ah, no.
I, who loved his poor mother so, could never--What's this? A purse!
empty! And this key, left carelessly lying about; that's a bad sign.
[_Opens Secretaire._] No, not one solitary sous--his last coin came
yesterday to pay me the rent. In the drawer, perhaps--

    _DR. DESMARETS looks in._

_Dr. Desmarets._ Hallo! [_She starts._] What are you at there?

_Mad. V._ Me, sir? I was just--I was just--

_Des._ Poking your nose into that drawer--that what you call just?

_Mad. V._ I was dusting and putting the things in order, sir.

_Des._ I'll tell you what, Madame V., you're an extraordinary woman.
Yesterday, when I called, you were dusting--half-an-hour ago when I
called, you were dusting--and now, when I call again, you're dusting.
Where the devil you find so much dust to dust, _I_ can't think.

_Mad. V._ Ah, sir, look into this drawer.

_Des._ What for?

_Mad. V._ Is it not the place where, if one had money, one would
naturally keep it?

_Des._ I suppose so. What of that?

_Mad. V._ See, sir, it is empty.

_Des._ What's that to me?

_Mad. V._ And his purse, also.

_Des._ What's that to you?             [_Goes up and puts hat on table._

_Mad. V._ [_Aside._] I dare not tell him that Manuel is without a
meal--starving--I should never be forgiven. His _pride_ would be
wounded, and nothing could excuse that.

_Des._ Well, what are you cogitating about? Looking for something to
dust?

_Mad. V._ I'm thinking of the Marquis, sir.

_Des._ Well, what of him?

_Mad. V._ Is it not dreadful? Brought up as he has