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"A bad shot, sir," replied Jarrett. "This is the way to take aim for effectually closing an eye." And he put a ball between the two eyes of the other man, who fell down dead. When Jarrett told this story his lip curled up and his two incisors appeared to be crunching the words with delight, and his bursts of stifled laughter sounded like the snapping of his jaws.
"You don't know her, Monsieur Jarrett," I heard her say. "If she thought you were forcing the door open, against which she has pushed the furniture, she would jump out of the window!" Then I heard Felicie talking to a French lady who was insisting on seeing me. "It is quite impossible," she was saying. "Madame would be quite hysterical. She needs an hour's rest, and every one must wait!"
This old house is still standing, and is regarded with reverence. The cherub on the Jarrett tablet bears a strong resemblance to two similar cherubs which support a royal crown carved on the back of an old walnut chair which I bought in the village in a cottage near the Manor House.
Abbey refused to return the money to the extraordinary individual, and as the curtain was going up he hurried back to take possession of his seat again. My appearance was greeted by several rounds of applause, which I believe had been paid for in advance by Abbey and Jarrett. I commenced, and the sweetness of my voice in the fable of the "Two Pigeons" worked the miracle.
"Oh, Heavens!" I exclaimed, "will it be like this in all the cities I visit?" "Oh no," answered Jarrett placidly; "your interviews will be wired throughout America." "What about the mussels?" I thought to myself, and then in an absent-minded way I answered, "I am a Catholic, Mademoiselle." "A Roman Catholic, or do you belong to the Orthodox Church?" she asked.
Jarrett was prepared for this, and saved him by the collar of his coat; otherwise he would have fallen down on the pavement as he deserved. "At what time will you come and get on the whale to-morrow?" this extraordinary personage asked. I gazed at him in bewilderment. He spoke French perfectly, and repeated his question. "He's mad!" I said in a low voice to Jarrett.
I threw myself down on the floor, and was deaf to the knocks on my door and to Jarrett's supplications. I did not want to argue the matter, so I did not utter a word. I heard the murmur of grumbling voices, and Jarrett's words tactfully persuading the visitors to stay. I heard the rustle of paper being pushed under the door, and Madame Guerard whispering to Jarrett, who was furious.
I began to get impatient, as we ought to have been rehearsing. Finally, I was told on Thursday morning that the business was over, and that I could not have my trunks until I had paid twenty-eight thousand francs for duty. I was seized with such a violent fit of laughing that poor Abbey, who had been terrified, caught it from me, and even Jarrett showed his cruel teeth.
Finally he pronounced an anathema against Scribe, who was already dead, against Legouve, against me, and against all my company. I was invited by the poet Frechette and a banker whose name I do not remember to pay a visit to the Iroquois. I accepted with joy, and went there accompanied by my sister, Jarrett, and Angelo, who was always ready for a dangerous excursion.
Then there were the exaggerated announcements invented by my impresario Abbey and my representative Jarrett. These announcements were often outrageous and always ridiculous; but I did not know their real source until long afterwards, when it was too late much too late to undeceive the public, who were fully persuaded that I was the instigator of all these inventions.
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