“Kindness for you, if you choose, for I really like you; but it would be wrong to suppose that I feel any distaste for this performance. On the contrary, it seems to me that it will be immensely diverting. In the first place the piece is charming, comic to the highest degree, and at the same time pathetic, in certain parts. You showed your wisdom in avoiding all allusions in the present arrangement. Come, Christian, let us rehearse! We haven’t more than half an hour. Let’s be quick! Are we all safe here? Can no one either hear us or see us?”
Christian had some difficulty in preventing M. Goefle from fatiguing his voice and exhausting himself in the rehearsal. The successive scenes were briefly indicated upon the schedule, and two or three questions and replies devoted to each of them were quite sufficient to give full command of the principal situations, which were to be the basis of the public improvisation. What was most important was to lay the marionettes in the proper order on the platform behind the scenes arranged for the purpose, so as to find them without confusion, when they should be required on the stage; to bring them forward correctly in their turns; and to have a good understanding about their entries and exits, and the main tenor of the story. The dialogue itself they left to the inspiration of the moment. M. Goefle was the most delightful and intelligent associate Christian had ever had. He was quite electrified by the collision of their wits, and, when eight o’clock struck, he was in a brilliant flow of spirits, such as he had not experienced since playing with Massarelli, then so agreeable and attractive. That distant and now sadly faded remembrance caused him a moment’s melancholy, which, however, he quickly shook off as he remarked to M. Goefle:
“There, I hear them coming into the gallery. Be all ready, my dear comrade, and good luck to us!”
At this moment some one knocked at the further door, and the voice of Johan, the major-domo, asked for Christian Waldo.
“I beg pardon,” called out Christian, “but you can’t come in now. Speak through the door; I can hear.”
Johan answered that Christian was to be in readiness to open the performance; and that three raps on the door would notify him when to begin. At that signal the door would be opened to allow the theatre to be set forward.
This being agreed upon, still another quarter of an hour had to pass before the ladies could all be suited with seats, where their dresses and graces could be properly displayed, and where each should be near the cavalier most agreeable to herself, or to whom she most wished to be agreeable. Christian, who was used to such delays, busied himself with arranging the refreshments that he had found in the little saloon upon a table, where it would be conveniently at hand, in case he or his companion should want to clear their voices between the acts. When he had done this, both he and M. Goefle stepped into the theatre, which was covered in with curtains securely fastened in front and at the sides. The back, which was movable, was set far enough to the rear to allow room for several side-scenes.
The two operators now awaited the three raps, Christian calmly, M. Goefle with an almost feverish impatience, which he expressed openly.
“What, do you feel vexed?” said Christian. “Well, that shows that you are excited; it is a good sign. You will be brilliant.”
“I hope so,” replied the lawyer; “though, to tell you the truth, it seems to me just now as if I should not be able to say a single word, and should break down. That would be extremely agreeable; it makes me dizzy to think of it. No case that I ever argued before the most august assembly, no question involving the life and honor of a client, or my own success, ever agitated my mind and strained my nerves as this farce is doing. Will those chatterboxes of women that I hear cackling through the doors never be quiet? Do they want to smother us in this box? I’ll break out and abuse them if this continues.”