Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 5, 2025
The power of Gillier's libretto culminated in the last act, which was short, fierce, concentrated, and highly dramatic. In it Enid Mardon had a big acting chance. She and Gillier had become great allies, on account of her admiration of his libretto. Gillier, who had been with her many times during the night, now slipped into the front row of the stalls to watch his divinity.
"I wonder when he will begin to suspect it?" "Men have to take their time over things like that," remarked Henriette. "What hideous flowers these are! I think I shall throw them out of the window." "No, don't!" "Why not?" "They are a symbol of your reconciliation with Armand Gillier." "He isn't altogether a fool, I fancy," remarked Henriette, laying Gillier's bouquet down on the seat beside her.
She had in a high degree the faculty, possessed by many clever Frenchwomen, of detecting and appraising the value of a work of art. She was furious because Gillier's libretto had never been submitted to her husband; but she could not say all that was in her mind.
He looked tired; but his imaginative eyes shone as if they could not help speaking, although his lips were often dumb. Only when he was talking to Susan Fleet did he seem to be comparatively at ease. The good Algerian wine went round, and Gillier's tongue was gradually unloosed. Some of the crust of formality flaked off from him, and his voice became a little louder.
"I won't have her name brought in," he added. "This is my affair." "Very well! Will you let me buy back my libretto?" Charmian expected an instant stern refusal from her husband. But after Gillier's question there was a prolonged pause. She wanted to break it, to answer fiercely for Claude; but she did not dare to. For a moment something in her husband's look and manner dominated her.
Claude's music broke in upon her questionings. Mrs. Shiffney had a retentive as well as a swift mind, and she remembered every detail of Gillier's powerful, almost brutal libretto. In the reading it had transported her into a wild life, in a land where there is still romance, still strangeness a land upon which civilization has not yet fastened its padded claw.
In an excellent Review of Gillier's Essays on the Causes of the Perfection of Antique Sculpture, which I have just seen, it is observed, that our exclusive admiration of the physiognomy of the Greeks arises from prejudice, since the Grecian countenance cannot be necessarily associated with any of the perfections which now distinguish accomplished or excellent men.
Shiffney slipped Gillier's libretto surreptitiously into Claude's hand. "It's splendid!" she almost whispered. "With such a libretto you can't fail." They were in the deserted salon of the hotel, among armchairs, albums and old French picture-papers. Mrs. Shiffney looked toward the door. "Don't let anyone know I've read it especially Henriette.
She recalled the many allusions that had been made to herself in the papers, the interviews with the "clever wife" who had done so much for her husband, the columns about her expedition to Paris to get Gillier's libretto for Claude. Crayford had taken good care that the "little lady" should have her full share of the limelight. Now, through shut eyelids she saw it blaze like an enemy.
"It has nothing to do with you. I haven't your interests at my heart. Why should I bother about them? All I want is to get something fine for my husband when a chance arises. I know what's good better than you do, my friend. You showed me three libretti that didn't do. Show me one that does do, and I'll pay you a price that will astonish you." Gillier's large eyes shone. "How much would you pay?"
Word Of The Day
Others Looking