"You had better not rely on him; the little rascal has the fever and it don"t leave him a minute; it"s constantly going and coming."
"Well, we are in a fix; and it"s too late now to teach anybody else Codinde"s part!"
"Monsieur, if you say so, I can take my boy"s part well enough; I know it, because I"ve been saying it to him all day."
"You, Pichet,--you take the child"s part?"
"Why," said Dufournelle, "in a play that is a parody of the melodramas, it seems to me that it will be even funnier to see the part played by a tall fellow like him."
"Is that your opinion? Then I have no objection.--Can we rely on you, Pichet?"
"Don"t I tell you that I know the part? The child is hidden, the robbers come, and when he sees that they are going to kill his father, he rushes at them like a kid."
"That"s right, and he says to the robbers: "Messieurs, in pity"s name, don"t hurt papa!"--Will you remember that sentence?"
"Yes, monsieur, I tell you I know it."
"Then go and rest; don"t drink any more before this evening, and be presentable when the time comes for the play."
"Monsieur will be satisfied with me."
The gardener walked away, as proud as a peac.o.c.k to play the part of a child, and the amateurs hurried to the theatre, where they tried to rehea.r.s.e as well as possible; but while trying the combat with swords, which brought the play to an end, young Kingerie, playing the part of Malinot, and finding much difficulty in learning the _four blows_ which his adversary, Astianax, did his utmost to teach him, unexpectedly invented a fifth blow which landed on the nose of the son of the family.
Astianax shrieked, thinking that his nose was cut off. The others crowded about him and rea.s.sured him; he had suffered nothing worse than a swollen nose and a slight cut upon it. Fourriette made haste to bathe the wounded organ, and thought that with the aid of a compress, which he urged the wounded youth to wear until evening, the nose would resume its normal shape. But young Kingerie was strictly enjoined not to use his sword even for practice.
The dinner hour arrived, and with it four scene shifters from one of the Parisian theatres, whom Glumeau had hired to work the scenery on his stage. They were looking for the theatre.
"What, have you hired men from the theatre?" cried Dufournelle; "why, we would have set the scenes; we would have acted as scene shifters."
"Oh, yes!" said Eolinde, "it"s very nice indeed when friends manage all those things. We trusted it to them once, and they never succeeded in setting the stage, except the wings representing a cavern and the background of a salon; and they couldn"t light but two lamps, because they had broken all the others."
"What worries me is that Chambourdin doesn"t appear. What shall we do?"
said Glumeau, looking at his feet. "I relied upon him, and I have no chevalier"s costume."
"And he promised me, for the part of Roderic, the costume of Robin Hood," said Astianax.
"Ah! you should do as I do, messieurs," said the druggist, "and arrange your own costume for yourselves. I have transformed myself into an Italian bandit, and you must tell me what you think of him."
"Does the action of the play take place in Italy?"
"I don"t know; but what difference does it make, as long as the costume is pretty?"
"Here he is!" cried Mademoiselle Eolinde; "a cabriolet is stopping at the gate, and there"s a big bundle in it. It"s Monsieur Chambourdin."
"Yes, it is he; good! everything is all right," said Glumeau; "he is more prompt than usual."
Chambourdin appeared with an enormous bundle of costumes; there were helmets, cuira.s.ses, tunics, long boots, wigs, doublets, small clothes, in short, enough to disguise the whole troupe. They all cheered, and carried Chambourdin in in triumph; they even proposed to embrace him, but he exclaimed that he preferred to dine. Thereupon they hastened to the table, but stout Dufournelle remarked that there was no need to hurry, because the audience was not likely to come early, and because by eating too hastily the actors ran the risk of suffocating on the stage.
Despite this advice, the ladies did hurry, and left the gentlemen at the table, in order to try on their costumes. The men took advantage of their absence to drink harder and to give their tongues greater liberty.
Dufournelle, who had no part, made the champagne corks pop, saying:
"Come, messieurs, this will give you self-possession, verve! If you"re a little tipsy, you"ll act much better!"
Young Kingerie, who realized the necessity of overcoming his usual timidity, drank several gla.s.ses of champagne in rapid succession, and soon his eyes began to start from his head. Monsieur Camuzard drank in order to prompt better; little Astianax, who for some time past had affected very dissolute manners, proposed toasts to the dancers at the Porte-Saint-Martin and to the bareback riders at the Hippodrome.
Chambourdin drank to whatever anyone suggested. Monsieur Mangeot drank to the success of the performance. Monsieur Glumeau proposed his own health; and stout Dufournelle, saying nothing, drank four times as much as the others.
But while drinking and laughing and talking, these gentlemen forgot the time; and suddenly little Astianax exclaimed:
"Mon Dieu! here are people coming already!"
XIX
A PLAY IN THE WOODS
It was midsummer, when the days were longest; and so, although it was nearly eight o"clock, the gardens were not yet dark, and they could see outside the gate a large number of persons who had come to see the performance. The ladies were in full dress, because they knew that after the play there would be dancing; the men too had taken pains with their costumes; for while saying to themselves: "In the country there is no ceremony;" they were quite as anxious to please there as in the city.
"The devil! the devil!" said Chambourdin, ogling the ladies who arrived.
"Why, some of them are pa.s.sably good-looking. Who is that brunette, with high color and her hair dressed _a la Fontange_? She has a saucy little air which attracts me immensely. Is she a product of the neighborhood?"
"Yes, she belongs here, or at all events she has property here."
"Has she a husband?"
"She has one who is three times her age."
"Then, it"s about the same as if she hadn"t any!"
"She is very gay, very fond of laughing; she rides and fences and dances admirably."
"Sapristi! why on earth didn"t you give her a part in the play, Monsieur Glumeau? I should have been delighted to fence with her, to try the _four blows_ with her."
Monsieur Glumeau was no longer there; he had gone to receive his guests; but little Astianax, made exceedingly loquacious by the champagne, replied:
"My mother and sister aren"t very fond of Madame Boutillon--that is the pretty brunette"s name; they say that her manner with men is too free."
"Oh! of course! that"s just like the women; when one of them happens to be a little more lively, a little less prudish, and doesn"t pick her expressions, but says frankly what she thinks, why she is voted bad form at once! she is too free! I snap my fingers at it; I like them that way myself, and I will look after the little Boutillon!"
"Ah! here is Miaulard, messieurs."
"Good-evening, Miaulard; are you still hoa.r.s.e?"
"I am getting better, much better."
"The deuce you say! you seem hardly able to speak to-day."