Part 28 (1/2)
”You take that for granted? Aye, that is your way, to be sure--to take things for granted But ranted
I have very definite views for , Scarary with you”
He rolled forith his ponderous yet curiously noiseless gait
Scara, and handed her the candle
”If you will leave us, Climene, I will ask your hand of your father in proper form”
She vanished, a little fluttered, lovelier than ever in her mixture of confusion and tied M Binet, who had flung himself into an armchair at the head of the short table, faced hi for Climene's hand in proper form And this was how he did it:
”Father-in-law,” said he, ”I congratulate you This will certainly , and you shall shi+ne in the glory she will reflect As the father of Madame Scaramouche you lared at hie was theconviction that whatever he ht say or do, this irresistible felloould bend him to his will At last speech came to hiing his ham-like fist upon the table ”A corsair! First you sail in and plunder ains; and now you want to carry off raceless, na already”
Scaramouche pulled the bell-rope, not at all discomposed He sleaht He really owed a great debt to M de Lesdiguieres
”Binet,” said he, ”forget for once that you are Pantaloon, and behave as a nice, amiable father-in-law should behave when he has secured a son-in-law of exceptionable undy at undy to be found in Redon Co honour to it
Excitations of the bile invariably impair the fine sensitiveness of the palate”
CHAPTER VII THE CONQUEST OF NANTES
The Binet Troupe opened in Nantes--as youcopies of the ”Courrier Nantais”--on the Feast of the Purification with ”Les Fourberies de Scaramouche” But they did not coone to little country villages and townshi+ps, unheralded and depending entirely upon the parade of their entrance to attract attention to themselves Andre-Louis had borrowed fro h hand entirely in his own fashi+on, he had ordered at Redon the printing of playbills, and four days before the company's descent upon Nantes, these bills were pasted outside the Theatre Feydau and elsewhere about the town, and had attracted--being still sufficiently unusual announcements at the time--considerable attention He had entrusted the ent younghim on ahead of the company for the purpose
You may see for yourself one of these playbills in the Carnavalet Museue nahter, and leaving out of account that he who plays Trivelin in one piece appears as Tabarin in another, it ain as it really was It announces that they will open with ”Les Fourberies de Scaraives the titles, and by others not nae to be received in the distinguished and enlightened city of Nantes encourage the Binet Troupe to prolong its sojourn at the Theatre Feydau It lays great stress upon the fact that this is a company of improvisers in the old Italian manner, the like of which has not been seen in France for half a century, and it exhorts the public of Nantes not to uished lories of the Comedie de l'Art Their visit to Nantes--the announcement proceeds--is preliminary to their visit to Paris, where they intend to thron the glove to the actors of the Comedie Francaise, and to show the world how superior is the art of the improviser to that of the actor who depends upon an author for what he shall say, and who consequently says always the sa every time that he plays in the same piece
It is an audacious bill, and its audacity had scared M Binet out of the little sense left hiundy which in these days he could afford to abuse He had offered the most vehement opposition Part of this Andre-Louis had swept aside; part he had disregarded
”I admit that it is audacious,” said Scaramouche ”But at your ti succeeds like audacity”
”I forbid it; I absolutely forbid it,” M Binet insisted
”I knew you would Just as I know that you'll be very grateful toa catastrophe”
”I a fortune The worst catastrophe that can overtake you is to be back in the es from which I rescued you I'll have you in Paris yet in spite of yourself Leave this toNor did his preparations end there He wrote a piquant article on the glories of the Co troupe of the great mime Florimond Binet Binet's name was not Florireat sense of the theatre That article was an a matter contained in the playbills; and he persuaded Basque, who had relations in Nantes, to use all the influence he could coet that article printed in the ”Courrier Nantais” a couple of days before the arrival of the Binet Troupe
Basque had succeeded, and, considering the undoubted literary merits and intrinsic interest of the article, this is not at all surprising
And so it was upon an already expectant city that Binet and his company descended in that first week of February M Binet would have made his entrance in the usualdru cymbals But to this Andre-Louis offered the most relentless opposition
”We should but discover our poverty,” said he ”Instead, ill creep into the city unobserved, and leave ourselves to the iination of the public”
He had his way, of course M Binet, worn already with battling against the strong waters of this young ether unequal to the contest now that he found Cli her insistence to his, and joining with hiish and reactionary wits Metaphorically, M Binet threw up his ar man into his troupe, he allowed the current to carry him whither it would
He was persuaded that he would be drowned in the end Meanwhile he would drown his vexation in Burgundy At least there was abundance of Burgundy Never in his life had he found Burgundy so plentiful Perhaps things were not as bad as he iined, after all He reflected that, when all was said, he had to thank Scara the worst, he would hope for the best