A Mummer's Tale

, being turned back at the edges, left room for a few human figures, indistinctly seen in the gloom: actors, scene-shifters, costumie

which had not as yet been performed in this theatre. The actors knew their parts, and the following day had been chosen fo

and, as she had been informed that Marie-Claire was execrable in the part of General

e: a long blue frock-coat, with a collar reaching above his ears, and riding-breeches of chamois leather. He had even gone so far as to make up his face for the part, the clean-shaven soldierly face of the general of the Empire, ornamented with the "hare's-foot"

us, who commands a million soldiers, and who causes all the peoples and kings

ry, who was playing the conspirato

sh us in hi

plaintive and angry a

He was a man of seventy,

it's a fire-place. We shall have to send for the bricklayers, the

fted his

your fault, General. Your proclamation is excellent. You promi

lle r

e the oaths that they have not yet taken, and, because they lie, they believe

oice of the au

t off the tra

the astonis

do not understand a wor

whole course of his life, had never forgotten the name of a dairy-woman or a

nd, just do that o

assumed at will a deep or a piping voice; he sighed, he roared, he laughed, he wept. He coul

ful, in any assemblage of men, if people are to look upon one another without feelings of horror and disgust. There even prevailed, in this workshop in full activity, a seemly appearance of harmony and union, a

t she did not know him! Of what was he capable? She tried to guess. What was he going to do? Probably nothing. All men who are thrown over by a woman utter threats and do nothing. But was Chevalier a man quite like all the rest? People did say that he was crazy. That was mere talk. But she herself did not feel sure that there might not be a spark of insanity in him. She was studying him now with genuine interest. Highly intelligent herself, she had never discovered any great signs of intelligence in him; but he had on several occasions astonished her by the obstinacy of his will. She could remember his performing acts of the fiercest energy. Jealous by nature, there

the two great Powers of the Odéon. Nevertheless, Fagette was doing her best to take Ligny away from her friend; not from inclination, for she was insensible as a stick and held men in contempt, but with the idea that a liaison with a diplomatist would procure her certain advantages, and above all, in order not to miss the opportunity of doing something scandalous. Nanteuil was aware of this. She knew that all her sister-actresses, Ellen Midi, Duvernet, Herschell, Falempin, Stella, Marie-Claire, were trying to take Ligny from her. She

called Nanteuil's attention to the scene through whic

ook as if they were playing at the

the top lights

think that I, too, in a moment, have to enter that aquarium. Nanteuil, you must not stop lo

ventriloqual in order to seem

tion, higher pay for the troops; in the absence of funds, a few drafts on th

r cloak with its pathetic lining of old rabbi

"You know that next Sunday I am going to give a re

" asked

e Ren

d little known hall, for Nanteui

ft by Lacour, the actor, who died so sadly of consumption this winter.

ly is ridiculous, Marie

earse immediately; and Constantin Marc, although a countryman living in the forest, could henceforth breathe only in the theatre. Nanteuil wa

rville conti

rice of our life and honour, I shall say,

youth, who was sitting in the orchestr

hat Baro

i is in the cast. She plays in the fourth ac

say to that ill-mannered cub. He met me yesterday i

utz? He couldn'

with his people. I am going to have hi

d him ver

z! De

nd well-pleased with himself, and lea

e yesterday, were you in very bad compan

t her in as

s with m

O

re, hanging upon Durvill

e, your glory will be equally great. Come what may,

adame Marie-Clai

ry, and immediately the author, tearing hi

meteor, an aerolith, a bit of the moon falling on to the stage would be less horri

h a mystic's beard, was seated in the first row, on the arm of a stall

ixth time that he's dropped on

is rottenly bad," replied

are you laughing?' He was not laughing; he had no desire to laugh; he used to get his ears boxed from morning to night. His parents wanted to put him in a chemical factory. But he had dreams of the stage, and spent his days on the Bu

ss noise!" s

ed from Father Cornemuse, the head of the French Missions in Tunis, a letter informing him that his painting of the Death of Saint Louis, having been submitted to the Cardinal-Archbishop, had been refused by His Eminence, because of the unseemly expression on the face of Philippe the Bold who was laughing as he watched the saintly King, his father, dying on a bed of straw. Montalent could n

quiet there!"

author e

just pitch all those p

he was arrang

u pick up the documents one by one, and you say: 'Senatus-Consultum. Order o

. Order of the day. Despatches t

t! Cross over! That's it! Very good. Back again! Good! Very

the stag

box! You seem glued to it! Just get into your head, once for all, that you are not the statue of General Malet, that you are General Malet i

ed for a long while into his

the villain! Romilly, I told you to put the stove nearer the dormer

re, was to escape from his prison by the dormer-window. The stage "business" had not yet been settled; it had been impossible to do so before the

leapt on to

d on. How can you expect Chevalier to get out through t

d Romilly, "but we shall

shall be blocki

cise

scene-shifters stood examining the stage-setting wi

"There's no need to change anything.

g the sill of the window, and in hoisting himself up until

ings, and the house. Chevalier had produced an as

s as nimble as a monkey. I'll be hanged if any of you could do as much. If all the par

t love him; she had never loved him; she did not desire him; it was a long time since she had really wanted him; and, for some days past, she had been unable to imagine herself taking pleasure in any oth

ear and the grounding of the supports, the author held the whole of the company, as well as all the supers,

going to teach you how to beat the roll, confound it! Fagette, my child, what the mischief are you doing at a ball given by the Minister of Police, if you haven't any stockings with golden clocks? Take off those knitted woollen stockings immediately. This is

a hundred mouths, and a

h Monsieur Gombaut, of the Academy of Moral

baut, it is perhaps not accurate as far

dramatic elements. But what, to my thinking, is beyond a doubt, is that General Malet, although associated with Royalists, was himself a Republican, and was working for the re-establishment of popular Government. In the course of

handsome as an ancient satyr, was gazing with glistening eye and smiling lips

h the play, Master?"

yes for anything but bones,

see over there a little creature, little

his thumb. Tears wel

prodigious success than at seeing Félicie. He dreamed, in his infatuation, tha

, as she was timid,

Your exit is a marvel. You can take my word for it. I am not

" asked

he happiest mom

ights of the third galleries, sounding throug

my children; speak louder and

infinitely small, in

were collected at the front of the stage, a

ome weeks at Moscow; then with the rapidity of a

s, trump, two

we shall penetrate into India, crossing Persia,

six in d

the fou

ning the actors of Paris, dated from the Kremlin? There's an end o

"She is charming in that blue Marie-L

furs a stack of tickets already soiled th

ng, with appropriate remarks, of the best letters of Madame de Sévigné, for the benefit of the

lent?" asked C

ever," sai

what way is his

dame Doulce, "do not pr

lainly enough that nothing is more worthless and contemptible. In former days people were less besmeared with sentimentalism. Each of us held his own life to be infinitely precious, but he did not profess any respect whatever for the life of others. We were nearer t

Chevalier dreamily, without gr

orth a string of

burlesque catastrophe, a terrible comedy, the mask of carnival over blood-stained cheeks.

ught a meaning in th

continued

fe, it is to see red one day and blue the next, it is ha

oes it not seem to you natural to be a murderer, and do you not think th

lied in deep,

respect for the life of others. I am humane in spite of myself. I have for some time past been seriously considering the question which

a look of contempt. She feared him no longer, an

ro

d-bye till to-morrow, Monsieur Consta

escended the stage staircase behind her, and

o-night at our cabaret. I should

gracio

won't

ne; you are b

escape. He

! Don't be too

ips curling back from her clench

over! You hear me? I

ntly and sole

ght to warn you. I cannot compel you to love me. But I do not intend that you shall love another. For

t me? You? My po

re gentle ton

man can get what he wants;