Part 5 (1/2)

GENTLEMAN

[_Enthusiastically_]: Great heavens--you! Allow me to shake hands with you heartily! You, with your genius, you have given me so much joy!

JACKSON

I'm glad indeed!

BRIQUET

[_Shrugs his shoulders; to Jackson_]: He wants to be a clown! Look him over, Jim.

[_Jackson makes a motion at which the gentleman hurriedly removes his coat and throws it on a chair. He is ready for the examination.

Jackson turns him round, looking him over critically._]

JACKSON

Clown? Hm! Turn round then. Clown? Yes? Now smile. Wider--broader--do you call that a smile? So--that's better. There is something, yes--but for full developments---- [_Sadly_]: Probably you can't even turn a somersault?

GENTLEMAN

[_Sighs_]: No.

JACKSON

How old are you?

GENTLEMAN

Thirty-nine. Too late? [_Jackson moves away with a whistle. There is a silence._]

ZINIDA

[_Softly_]: Take him.

BRIQUET

[_Indignant_]: What the h.e.l.l shall I do with him if he doesn't know a thing? He's drunk!

GENTLEMAN

Honestly I am not. Thank you for your support, Madame. Are you not the famous Zinida, the lion tamer, whose regal beauty and audacity----

ZINIDA

Yes. But I do not like flattery.

GENTLEMAN

It is not flattery.