If Mendes had prosecuted his action, "poor Alessandro" was ready to appear as a witness and tell the story which Leoncavallo had dramatized.
I have never seen "La Femme de Tabarin" and must rely on Mr.Philip Hale, fecund fountain of informal information, for an outline of the play which "Pagliacci" called back into public notice: Francisquine, the wife of Tabarin, irons her petticoats in the players' booth.

A musketeer saunters along, stops and makes love to her.

She listens greedily.

Tabarin enters just after she has made an appointment with the man.

Tabarin is drunk--drunker than usual.