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PRICE, 25 CENTS. No. 77.

THE SUNSET SERIES.

By Subscription, per Year, Nine Dollars. January 25, 1894.

Entered at the New York Post Office as second-class matter.

Copyright 1892, by J. S. OGILVIE.




THE
MESMERIST'S VICTIM.

BY

ALEX. DUMAS.

NEW YORK:
J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY,
57 ROSE STREET.

A WONDERFUL OFFER!

70 House Plans for $1.00.

[Illustration]

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Address all orders to

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_Lock Box 2767. 57 Rose Street, New York._




THE MESMERIST'S VICTIM;

OR,

ANDREA DE TAVERNEY.

A HISTORICAL ROMANCE

BY ALEX. DUMAS.

Author of "Monte Cristo," "The Three Musketeers _Series_," "Chicot
the Jester _Series_," etc.

TRANSLATED FROM THE LATEST PARIS EDITION.

BY

HENRY LLEWELLYN WILLIAMS.

NEW YORK:

J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY,

57 ROSE STREET.

_Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1892, by A. E. Smith &
Co, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington._




THE MESMERIST'S VICTIM;

OR,

ANDREA DE TAVERNEY.




CHAPTER I.

THE DESPERATE RESCUE.


On the thirteenth of May, 1770, Paris celebrated the wedding of the
Dauphin or Prince Royal Louis Aguste, grandson of Louis XV. still
reigning, with Marie-Antoinette, Archduchess of Austria.

The entire population flocked towards Louis XV. Place, where fireworks
were to be let off. A pyrotechnical display was the finish to all grand
public ceremonies, and the Parisians were fond of them although they
might make fun.

The ground was happily chosen, as it would hold six thousand spectators.
Around the equestrian statue of the King, stands were built circularly
to give a view of the fireworks, to be set off at ten or twelve feet
elevation.

The townsfolk began to assemble long before seven o'clock when the City
Guard arrived to keep order. This duty rather belonged to the French
Guards, but the Municipal government had refused the extra pay their
Commander, Colonel, the Marshal Duke Biron, demanded, and these warriors
in a huff were scattered in the mob, vexed and quarrelsome. They sneered
loudly at the tumult, which they boasted they would have quelled with
the pike-stock or the musket-butt if they had the ruling of the
gathering.

The shrieks of the women, squeezed in the press, the wailing of the
children, the swearing of the troopers, the grumbling of the fat
citizens, the protests of the cake and candy merchants whose goods were
stolen, all prepared a petty uproar preceding the deafening one which
six hundred thousand souls were sure to create when collected. At eight
at evening, they produced a vast picture, like one after Teniers, but
with French faces.

About half past eight nearly all eyes were fastened on the scaffold
where the famous Ruggieri and his assistants were putting the final
touches to the matches and fuses of the old pieces. Many large
compositions were on the frames. The grand bouquet, or shower of stars,
girandoles and squibs, with which such shows always conclude, was to go
off from a rampart, near the Seine River, on a raised bank.

As the men carried their lanterns to the places where the pieces would
be fired, a lively sensation was raised in the throng, and some of the
timid drew back, which made the whole waver in line.

Carriages with the better class still arrived but they could not reach
the stand to deposit their passengers. The mob hemmed them in and some
persons objected to having the horses lay their heads on their shoulder.

Behind the horses and vehicles the crowd continued to increase, so that
the conveyances could not move one way or another. Then were seen with
the audacity of the city-bred, the boys and the rougher men climb upon
the wheels and finally swarm upon the footman's board and the coachman's
box.

The illumination of the main streets threw a red glare on the sea of
faces, and flashed from the bayonets of the city guardsmen, as
conspicuous as a blade of wheat in a reaped field.

About nine o'clock one of these coaches came up, but three rows of
carriages were before the stand, all wedged in and covered with the
sightseers. Hanging onto the springs was a young man, who kicked away
those who tried to share with him the use of this locomotive to cleave a
path in the concourse. When it stopped, however, he dropped down but
without letting go of the friendly spring with one hand. Thus he was
able to hear the excited talk of the passengers.

Out of the window was thrust the head of a young and beautiful girl,
wearing white and having lace on her sunny head.

"Come, come, Andrea," said a testy voice of an elderly man within to
her, "do not lean out so, or you will have some rough fellow snatch a
kiss. Do you not see that our coach is stuck in this mass like a boat in
a mudflat? we are in the water, and dirty water at that; do not let us
be fouled."

"We can't see anything, father," said the girl, drawing in her head: "if
the horse turned half round we could have a look through the window, and
would see as well