MADAME COSIMA WAGNER.
XXXIII
Villiers had promised Wagner to read him his one-act play La Révolte, which the younger Dumas, who admired it very much, had caused to be accepted at "The Vaudeville," the plan being to produce it the following winter. Villiers had always postponed this serious reading. But finally on the evening before the last day of our stay, as we were saying good-night, they called out to him not to forget to bring the manuscript when we should return on the morrow.
Villiers was ambitious to be a great actor—perhaps he was one; for a long time his mind was possessed by a single idea, that of learning the rôle of Hamlet and interpreting it better than anyone else had ever done. He had even expended very considerable sums on the preparation of a suitable costume, of black velvet and jet, which he often put on and, standing before a mirror, passed whole nights in trying different effects. At this time a pair of padded tights was all that remained of the costume, and Villiers sometimes wore them on social occasions, when he wished to have beautiful legs.
The reading of La Révolte, at Tribschen, was a glorious moment for the author of that work.
When he read or declaimed, there was no longer any question of inarticulate speech or broken phrasing. He enunciated the text in a clear and resonant voice, and with such perfect art that both the characters and the sentiments were wonderfully distinct.
He was listened to in a religious silence, with extreme attention and an increasing interest.
It is certain that if the play fell, in "The Vaudeville," before the Philistines whom it scourged, it was avenged in advance on this evening, when it went off with shining success.