All at once his heart leaped with joy: she had just entered. Pale and agitated, he did not breathe freely until the good Jacinthe had promised that she would do all in her power to conceal Angèle.
“Excellent woman!” cried Eusebe.
His neighbor at the right could not help smiling, while the lean gentleman on his left gave vent to his feelings by grumbling.
Eusebe paid no attention to these demonstrations. His chin resting on his hands, which he had placed on the back of the chair in front of him, he watched intently the impossible action of the piece. He had already forgotten that what he saw was only fiction. His joy or grief augmented or diminished with the development of the plot. If Angèle succeeded in extricating herself from one of her thousand difficulties, he breathed again. On the contrary, when a new disaster befell the poor abbess, the heart of Eusebe bled for her, and his eyes filled with tears. Twenty times was he on the point of springing upon the stage and saying, “I will defend you: don’t be afraid.” Fortunately, Angèle succeeded without his assistance in escaping the snares M. Scribe had prepared for her.
What would the audience have said, what would the police have done, if Eusebe had executed his design? Nothing, probably. The public are amused by madmen, and the police interfere only in cases with which they are familiar. By remaining in his seat, our poor provincial caused himself to be put out-of-doors.
The curtain rose for the third time. Angèle had just arrived at the convent, and sang the famous rondeau—
“Ah! what a night!”
She detailed pathetically the perils she had encountered during the frightful night,—recounted her adventures with the drunken soldiers, the thief, who had robbed her of her golden cross, and the student, who was content to steal only a kiss.
The neighbor at the left, a fat man, with a good-natured physiognomy, leaned towards Eusebe and said,—
“How confoundedly stupid! She has succeeded in escaping unperceived,—a miracle!—and now, instead of going to her cell and changing her costume, she remains there like a fool to sing. I would give a trifle if they would come and take her by surprise.”