"Oh! as to that, I"m not at all alarmed:
""La fortune a mes voeux cesse d"etre opposee, Madame, et dans vos bras met----""
"Bravo! you say it like an angel."
"It"s the curse that bothers me."
"See that you gesticulate enough, and it will be all right."
At midday, Monsieur Floridor came to escort them to the theatre, where the rest of the troupe was waiting for them. The aspect of the little hall, which they reached through a dovecote, where the box-office was located, amused Dubourg mightily, while Menard collided with two old hogsheads which did duty as mountains.
The troupe manifested the greatest respect for the two new-comers, who rehea.r.s.ed book in hand. Dubourg did not say a word that the others did not exclaim:
"How well that was declaimed! what talent!"
It was the same with Menard; and the tutor, bewildered by the applause that was lavished upon him, was persuaded that he possessed a hitherto unsuspected talent for acting.
"Do you take snuff while you are acting?" queried Floridor.
"Why not? I take the part of a king, and the King of Prussia took snuff; witness that box, which----"
"In Poland," interposed Dubourg, "we take as much of it as we please on the stage; it"s a recognized thing; indeed, it"s a matter of tradition in many roles."
"How glad I am!" said the constable"s wife, who played Phedre; "I didn"t dare to take it when I was the princess."
"In that case," said the carpenter"s apprentice, "I"ll put a little quid in my mouth when I play Aricie, as Monsieur Boleslas deigns to allow it."
"Whatever you please; great artists indulge in innumerable whims."
"_Non est magnum ingenium, sine mixtura dementiae_," observed Menard.
"Do you hear him? that"s Polish," said the manager to his troupe.
Three days were occupied with rehearsals; at last, the day of the performance arrived. Menard knew only his first speech by heart; but he knew that very well, and Dubourg had told him that that was enough. The latter did not know a word of his part, but he was not at all disturbed.
On the morning of the performance, he took care to secure the hundred francs which Floridor had agreed to pay, saying that it was the custom in Poland. The little manager counted out the sum, and Dubourg put it in his pocket.
The costumes they were to wear in _Phedre_ were brought to the inn.
"Don"t we dress at the theatre?" Dubourg asked the manager.
"We have no dressing-rooms, so everybody dresses at home; but the weather is fine, and there"s no inconvenience in that."
"Do you mean that I must walk through the town dressed as Hippolyte?"
"The theatre is only a few steps from the inn, and you can play the part in boots, as Hippolyte is a hunter."
"True."
"In default of a bow, which we haven"t, you will carry an old musket, which I have had brought here for you; the ramrod will represent the arrows."
"That will do very well."
"As for the wig, I think you will be pleased; as Hippolyte must have hair falling over his neck, I have prepared a Louis XIV wig, which will fill the bill perfectly."
The manager took his leave, and Dubourg was a.s.sisted to dress by Menard, who, as he did not appear till the third act, had plenty of time for his own toilet. Dubourg retained his black trousers, in which were the hundred francs; he thought it best to have the money about him, in case of accident. Over them he drew a very large pair of nankeen trousers, donned a white pique waistcoat, and threw over his shoulders an ample cloak covered with rabbit skins, representing the skin of a tiger; then he put on his wig, daubed his face with rouge, took the musket in one hand and his handkerchief in the other, and betook himself to the theatre, urging Menard to make haste, so that he would not be late for his _entree_.
The auditorium was full, which meant receipts of about eighty francs.
Floridor was in ecstasies; he ran to and fro from the prompter"s box to the stage, in full view of the audience; for there was no pa.s.sage under the stage, and the sheet which did duty as a curtain was hung on a rod and drawn aside, like the curtain of a magic lantern.
Dubourg arrived, bathed in perspiration, because the cloak covered with rabbit skins was very heavy and the wig was immense. The actors uttered a cry of admiration when he appeared.
"How handsome he is!" could be heard on all sides; "how well he represents Hippolyte!"
"Ah! I shall play Phedre by inspiration!" exclaimed the constable"s wife, with a pa.s.sionate glance at Dubourg. But as Phedre had a slight squint, and an enormous nose covered with snuff, Hippolyte did not return that amorous glance. He drew the curtain aside to look into the hall; when his face appeared, shouts arose on all sides; the ladies thought he was a lion. Thereupon Floridor came forth from his box, and addressed the audience thus:
"I told you that you would be pleased, enchanted!"--and he applauded with all his might, the spectators followed suit, and Dubourg bowed with majestic dignity, then retired behind the curtain.
Everybody was ready. Phedre had a gown _a la_ Mary Stuart, a mob-cap, and was covered with _mouches_ to the end of her nose. OEnone, to give herself a malignant aspect, was dressed in red and black, because Dubourg had told her that such a costume indicated a woman of character.
The carpenter, on the contrary, had sacrificed a nascent whisker in order to represent Aricie; he was dressed in a white cambric gown, with a garland of roses in his hair, and he imitated a woman"s voice reasonably well, although he constantly chewed tobacco.
The wigmaker, who was cast for the part of Theramene, wore a Francois I wig and a Spanish costume, with his National Guards sabre for a sword.
The roles of the other two confidants were to be read by Floridor from the prompter"s box. Only Thesee was missing, and he did not appear; but he was not to come on till the third act.
"Let us begin, the audience is growing restive," said the manager; "we mustn"t keep them waiting any longer. Thesee will certainly be on hand for the third act."
"It is undoubtedly his costume that detains him," said Dubourg; "he"s very particular about having his costume just what it should be, and he never puts in a pin except in the way tradition demands."
The manager, who was also prompter, stage manager, and scene shifter, struck the traditional three blows, then drew the curtain, which at first disclosed only half of the stage; but with the a.s.sistance of two spectators, who came on the stage, he succeeded in drawing it entirely aside. Thereupon he went down into his box, with a candlestick in his hand, and the play began.
When Dubourg stalked upon the stage, majestically enveloped in his cloak, the audience emitted a murmur of surprise, which was not precisely admiration; for, with his huge wig, the rouge trickling down his cheeks, and his old musket over his shoulder, Dubourg was far from attractive to look upon. Judging from the head they had seen a moment before, they had expected to see a magnificent man of lofty stature; but, on the contrary, the cloak seemed to crush him, and Theramene, being very tall, made him appear even shorter than he was.
"He"s a Pole," said the spectators.
"He"s terribly ugly," said the young women; "but he is said to have great talent."
Dubourg rolled his eyes in terrifying fashion, to give character to his face; while the unlucky Theramene, whose head touched the flies, was obliged to stoop, so that his wig should not sweep the spiders" webs from the ceiling of the palace.
Dubourg, who was not at all timid, shouted his lines like a deaf man, and gesticulated so wildly that, before the end of the first scene, Theramene had been struck twice by him. At the third blow, the wigmaker began to lose his temper, and muttered between his teeth:
"Sacrebleu! look out what you"re doing! if you go on like this, I shall be like a baked apple before the end of the play."
But the audience were delighted with his spirited acting; they applauded and cried _bravo_! Dubourg continued as he had begun, but not without alarming one woman in the pit who, being singularly affected by his contortions, left the place.
The first act went very well; but the audience manifested some little surprise when, instead of seeing Panope appear, they heard the prompter reading the role in his box; but, as it was not long, they let it pa.s.s, especially as Floridor, turning toward the pit, explained:
"Messieurs, the roles of confidants are almost always given in this way in towns of the third order."
But Thesee had not arrived.