Excerpt from The Vagabond: Le Chemineau; Lyric Opera in Four Acts Act I shows a glade on the outskirts of a forest, with cornfields beyond, in provincial France. The voice of the Vagabond, a tramp who has hired himself out as a harvest hand, is heard off-stage. Toinette, a village girl, preparing the mid-day soup for the harvesters, admits that she loves him. After the reapers have eaten and while they sleep, Francois, no longer young, but deeply in love with Toinette, begs her to marry him and, refused, reproaches her with her preference for his younger rival. The latter appears, is waited on by Toinette, and then Pierre, the wealthy farmer, sending off the girl, asks the Vagabond to stay and take charge of his farm. The latter promises to consider the offer, and recalls Toinette to discuss it with her. During the ensuing love-scene, she tries to coax him to settle down and marry her, but the confirmed wanderer shies at the idea of "taking root in the earth like a beet." Even Toinette's offer to go a-roaming with him falls on deaf ears. Finally, Toinette, who cries out that she has sacrificed her good name for his sake, is forcibly prevented by Francois from following him as he is seen far afield, seeking the open road for which his soul yearns. Act II takes place in a peasant interior of the humblest kind. Toinette has been married to Francois for some twenty years; and Toinet, her child by the Vagabond, has been brought up by Francois, with full knowledge, as his own son. The couple have fallen on evil days. Francois, sick, old, broken, is no longer able to work. Toinette tries to cheer him, but cannot deny either her own preoccupation or Toinet's distress. The sudden arrival of Aline, rich Pierre's daughter, leads to the discovery of its cause. She and Toinet love each other. Toinet, now entering, repeats threats and insults Pierre has just uttered. Francois, indignant, bids Aline go tell her father to come and answer for his outrage, sending Toinet away at the same time. Pierre comes, abuses the honest couple, accusing them of scheming to give him a pauper son-in-law, and roundly declares him a bastard. Francois, staggering up to throttle Pierre, is felled by a stroke of paralysis. In Act III, before a crossroads tavern, the Vagabond meets Thomas and Martin, with whom he had harvested so many years ago. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.