Madame de Marsan’s receptions were delightful: the company was select, the women were pretty, the men well bred; courtesy without affectation or reserve was the ordinary rule; we were lively and cheerful without ceasing to be decent, gallant without mawkishness; and if anyone did say something a little spiteful, it was said in the good-natured tone in which one may say anything with impunity. The music was excellent, without being pretentious; sometimes they played for high stakes, but you could never detect the faintest emotion on the faces of the players; in good society, people know how to lose their money with a charming grace.
The month of October was drawing near, and before the winter should come and open the season for balls Madame de Marsan proposed to give a party at her country house, at which there were to be some theatricals. I had been hearing of this function for a long while, and extensive preparations were being made therefor. The matter of the plays to be given was thoroughly discussed, and at last they fixed upon Le Barbier de Séville and Fanchon la Vielleuse. Madame de Marsan insisted that I should take part. I had never acted in anything but charades, but I could not refuse to do whatever she wished. I was cast for Lindor, and she for Rosine; I could not complain of that arrangement. The other parts were distributed, and Raymond was not forgotten; he was an invaluable man for bourgeois comedies. As for Monsieur de Marsan, he never took part in theatricals. In large parties, husbands are of no use except to provide the money.
On the appointed day, Madame de Marsan went to her country house, where all the actors were to report a week before the performance, in order to have plenty of time to rehearse and arrange the stage business. Raymond, who had left me in peace for some time, came to me now every morning to urge me to hear him repeat the rôle of Bartholo; and as he was to appear in Fanchon also, in the part of the Abbé de Lattaignant, I must needs teach him the airs he had to sing; for, although he held himself out as a great musician, it took him a fortnight to learn a vaudeville couplet, even though he always had some score or other in his pocket.
“They’d have done much better to give some short new play instead of this interminable Fanchon,” my neighbor said to me every morning. “I’d have written one myself! indeed, I have some all written, which would be just the thing for amateurs!”
“You ought to suggest them.”
“Pshaw! there’s that Madame Saint-Marc, Madame de Marsan’s friend, who’s determined to play Fanchon, because, I suppose, she thinks she’s very pretty en marmotte. And that tall thin fellow who wants to play Sainte-Luce—we shall see how it goes. I myself could have played the officer much better than the abbé; the part’s better suited to my figure and style; however, I’m willing to take the other part to oblige; I sacrifice myself. I hope, however, that if we have time, before the fête, they’ll play my little opera, Les Amants Protégés par Vénus; there are only three short acts, but very spectacular. Listen, this is the first——”
“I’m studying my part.”
“Never mind, I want you to judge of the effect. The stage represents a magnificent country house, where preparations for the wedding of the lovers are in progress. The princess begins and says:
“‘Prince, ’tis here that we’re to be united.
How happy I am! how——’”
I listened no longer; and although the fête was not to come off for ten days, I rid myself of Raymond by leaving Paris for Madame de Marsan’s country house, where I was not sorry to arrive in advance of the rest of the guests. I hoped there to find a more favorable opportunity; and opportunity is such a precious thing! Many people have owed their happiness to it; all that is necessary is to know enough to grasp it.