"Yes, that she is," said the manager, rubbing his hands; "and my wife, too"—
"Married!—Amelie Grandet married! No, no; it is impossible—I cannot believe it. But were it true—true, mark me—for worlds would I not meet her."
"Comment il est drole," said the manager, soliloquising aloud; "for my wife takes it much easier, seeing they never met each other since they were fifteen."
"Ho, ho!" thought I, "the affair is not so bad either—time makes great changes in that space." "And does she still remember me?" said I, in a very Romeo-in-the-garden voice.
"Why, so far as remembering the little boy that used to play with her in the orchard at her mother's cottage near Pirna, and with whom she used to go boating upon the Elbe, I believe the recollection is perfect. But come along—she insists upon seeing you, and is this very moment waiting supper in our room for you."
"A thorough German she must be," thought I, "with her sympathies and her supper—her reminiscences and her Rhine wine hunting in couples through her brain."
Summoning courage from the fact of our long absence from each other, I followed the manager through a wilderness of pavilions, forests, clouds and cataracts, and at length arrived at a little door, at which he knocked gently.
"Come in," said a soft voice inside. We opened, and beheld a very beautiful young woman, in Tyrolese costume. She was to perform in the afterpiece—her low boddice and short scarlet petticoat displaying the most perfect symmetry of form and roundness of proportion. She was dressing her hair before a low glass as we came in, and scarcely turned at our approach; but in an instant, as if some sudden thought had struck her, she sprung fully round, and looking at me fixedly for above a minute—a very trying one for me—she glanced at her husband, whose countenance plainly indicated that she was right, and calling out, "C'est lui—c'est bien lui," threw herself into my arms, and sobbed convulsively.
"If this were to be the only fruits of my impersonation," thought I, "it is not so bad—but I am greatly afraid these good people will find out a wife and seven babies for me before morning."
Whether the manager thought that enough had been done for stage effect, I know not; but he gently disengaged the lovely Amelie, and deposited her upon a sofa, to a place upon which she speedily motioned me by a look from a pair of very seducing blue eyes.