BOOK III
THE FINAL CUE
CHAPTER I
OVERLOOKING THE COURT-YARD
“In the will of the Marquis de Ligne, probated yesterday, all of the property, real and personal, is left to his daughter, Constance,” wrote Straws in his paper shortly after the passing of the French nobleman. “The document states this disposition of property is made as ‘an act of atonement and justice to my daughter, whose mother I deserted, taking advantage of the French law to annul my marriage in England.’ The legitimacy of the birth of this, his only child, is thereupon fully acknowledged by the marquis after a lapse of many years and long after the heretofore unrecognized wife had died, deserted and forgotten. Thrown on her own resources, the young child, with no other friend than Manager Barnes, battled with the world; now playing in taverns or barns, like the players of interludes, the strollers of old, or ‘vagabonds’, as the great and mighty Junius, from his lofty plane, termed them. The story of that period of ‘vagrant’ life adds one more chapter 388 to the annals of strolling players which already include such names as Kemble, Siddons and Kean.
“From the Junius category to a public favorite of New Orleans has been no slight transition, and now, to appear in the rôle of daughter of a marquis and heiress to a considerable estate––truly man––and woman––play many parts in this brief span called life! But in making her sole heir the marquis specifies a condition which will bring regrets to many of the admirers of the actress. He robs her of her birthright from her mother. The will stipulates that the recipient give up her profession, not because it is other than a noble one, but ‘that she may the better devote herself to the duties of her new position and by her beneficence and charity remove the stain left upon an honored name by my second wife, the Duchesse D’Argens’.”
The marquis’ reference to “charity” and “beneficence” was in such ill-accord with his character that it might be suspected an adroit attorney, in drawing up the document, had surreptitiously inserted it. His proud allusion to his honored name and slurring suggestion of the taint put upon it by his second wife demonstrated the marquis was not above the foibles of his kind, overlooking his own light conduct and dwelling on that of his noble helpmate. It was the final taunt, and, as the lady had long since been laid in God’s Acre, where there is only silence divine, it received no answer, and the world was welcome to digest and gorge it and make the most of it.