5. The hand in supination gives intimation of the order.
Twelfth Gesture.
Fright.
The right hand pendent. The left hand rises. Tremor.
The first movement is executed in one-third; the body gently passes into the fourth, and as the fifth is being accomplished, the arm is thrust forward as if to repel the new object of terror.
At this moment a metamorphose seems to take place, and the object which had occasioned the fright, seems to be transfigured and to become the subject of an affectionate impulse. The hands extend toward this object not to repel it, but to implore it to remain; it seems to become more and more ennobled, and to assume in the astonished eyes of the actor, a celestial form--it is an angel. Therefore the body recoils anew one-fourth; the hands fall back in token of acquiescence; then, while drawing near the body, they extend anew toward the angel (here a third in token of affection and veneration). Then a prayer is addressed to it, and again the arms extend toward it in entreaty. (Here the orator falls upon his knees.)
The series can be executed beginning with the right arm or the left, being careful to observe the initial and principal movement, with the arms at the side where the scene opened. This gives the same play of organs only in an inverse sense.
Important Remarks.
Should any student despair of becoming familiar with our method, we give him three pieces of advice, all easy of application:
1. Never speak without having first expressed what you would say by gesture. Gesture must always precede speech.
2. Avoid parallelism of gesture. The opposition of the agents is necessary to equilibrium, to harmony.