the guests re-assembled in the great saloon before they repaired to the theatre. a lady on the arm of the russian prince bestowed on coningsby a haughty, but not ungracious bow; which he returned, unconscious of the person to whom he bent. she was, however, a striking person; not beautiful, her face, indeed, at the first glance was almost repulsive, yet it ever attracted a second gaze. a remarkable pallor distinguished her; her features had neither regularity nor expression; neither were her eyes fine; but her brow impressed you with an idea of power of no ordinary character or capacity. her figure was as fine and commanding as her face was void of charm. juno, in the full bloom of her immortality, could have presented nothing more majestic. coningsby watched her as she swept along like a resistless fate.
servants now went round and presented to each of the guests a billet of the performance. it announced in striking characters the début of mademoiselle flora. a principal servant, bearing branch lights, came forward and bowed to the marquess. lord monmouth went immediately to the grand-duke, and notified to his imperial highness that the comedy was ready. the grand-duke offered his arm to the ambassadress; the rest were following; coningsby was called; madame colonna wished him to be her beau.
it was a pretty theatre; had been rapidly rubbed up and renovated here and there; the painting just touched; a little gilding on a cornice. there were no boxes, but the ground-floor, which gradually ascended, was carpeted and covered with arm-chairs, and the back of the theatre with a new and rich curtain of green velvet.
they are all seated; a great artist performs on the violin, accompanied by another great artist on the piano. the lights rise; somebody evidently crosses the stage behind the curtain. they are disposing the scene. in a moment the curtain will rise also.
‘have you seen lucretia?’ said the princess to coningsby. ‘she is so anxious to resume her acquaintance with you.’
but before he could answer the bell rang, and the curtain rose.
the old man, who had a droll part to-night, came forward and maintained a conversation with his housekeeper; not bad. the young woman who played the grave matron performed with great finish. she was a favourite, and was ever applauded. the second scene came; a saloon tastefully furnished; a table with flowers, arranged with grace; birds in cages, a lap-dog on a cushion; some books. the audience were pleased; especially the ladies; they like to recognise signs of bon ton in the details of the scene. a rather awful pause, and mademoiselle flora enters. she was greeted with even vehement approbation. her agitation is extreme; she curtseys and bows her head, as if to hide her face. the face was pleasing, and pretty enough, soft and engaging. her figure slight and rather graceful. nothing could be more perfect than her costume; purely white, but the fashion consummate; a single rose her only ornament. all admitted that her hair was arranged to admiration.
at length she spoke; her voice trembled, but she had a good elocution, though her organ wanted force. the gentlemen looked at each other, and nodded approbation. there was something so unobtrusive in her mien, that she instantly became a favourite with the ladies. the scene was not long, but it was successful.
flora did not appear in the next scene. in the fourth and final one of the act, she had to make a grand display. it was a love-scene, and rather of an impassioned character; villebecque was her suitor. he entered first on the stage. never had he looked so well, or performed with more spirit. you would not have given him five-and-twenty years; he seemed redolent of youth. his dress, too, was admirable. he had studied the most distinguished of his audience for the occasion, and had outdone them all. the fact is, he had been assisted a little by a great connoisseur, a celebrated french nobleman, count d’o——y, who had been one of the guests. the thing was perfect; and lord monmouth took a pinch of snuff, and tapped approbation on the top of his box.
flora now re-appeared, received with renewed approbation. it did not seem, however, that in the interval she had gained courage; she looked agitated. she spoke, she proceeded with her part; it became impassioned. she had to speak of her feelings; to tell the secrets of her heart; to confess that she loved another; her emotion was exquisitely performed, the mournful tenderness of her tones thrilling. there was, throughout the audience, a dead silence; all were absorbed in their admiration of the unrivalled artist; all felt a new genius had visited the stage; but while they were fascinated by the actress, the woman was in torture. the emotion was the disturbance of her own soul; the mournful tenderness of her tones thrilled from the heart: suddenly she clasped her hands with all the exhaustion of woe; an expression of agony flitted over her countenance; and she burst into tears. villebecque rushed forward, and carried, rather than led, her from the stage; the audience looking at each other, some of them suspecting that this movement was a part of the scene.
‘she has talent,’ said lord monmouth to the russian ambassadress, ‘but wants practice. villebecque should send her for a time to the provinces.’
at length m. villebecque came forward to express his deep regret that the sudden and severe indisposition of mlle. flora rendered it impossible for the company to proceed with the piece; but that the curtain would descend to rise again for the second and last piece announced.
all this accordingly took place. the experienced performer who acted the heroines now came forward and disported most jocundly. the failure of flora had given fresh animation to her perpetual liveliness. she seemed the very soul of elegant frolic. in the last scene she figured in male attire; and in air, fashion, and youth, beat villebecque out of the field. she looked younger than coningsby when he went up to his grandpapa.
the comedy was over, the curtain fell; the audience, much amused, chattered brilliant criticism, and quitted the theatre to repair to the saloon, where they were to be diverted tonight with russian dances. nobody thought of the unhappy flora; not a single message to console her in her grief, to compliment her on what she had done, to encourage her future. and yet it was a season for a word of kindness; so, at least, thought one of the audience, as he lingered behind the hurrying crowd, absorbed in their coming amusements.
coningsby had sat very near the stage; he had observed, with great advantage and attention, the countenance and movements of flora from the beginning. he was fully persuaded that her woe was genuine and profound. he had felt his eyes moist when she wept. he recoiled from the cruelty and the callousness that, without the slightest symptom of sympathy, could leave a young girl who had been labouring for their amusement, and who was suffering for her trial.
he got on the stage, ran behind the scenes, and asked for mlle. flora. they pointed to a door; he requested permission to enter. flora was sitting at a table, with her face resting on her hands. villebecque was there, resting on the edge of the tall fender, and still in the dress in which he had performed in the last piece.
‘i took the liberty,’ said coningsby, ‘of inquiring after mlle. flora;’ and then advancing to her, who had raised her head, he added, ‘i am sure my grandfather must feel much indebted to you, mademoiselle, for making such exertions when you were suffering under so much indisposition.’
‘this is very amiable of you, sir,’ said the young lady, looking at him with earnestness.
‘mademoiselle has too much sensibility,’ said villebecque, making an observation by way of diversion.
‘and yet that must be the soul of fine acting,’ said coningsby; ‘i look forward, all look forward, with great interest to the next occasion on which you will favour us.’
‘never!’ said la petite, in a plaintive tone; ‘oh, i hope, never!’
‘mademoiselle is not aware at this moment,’ said coningsby, ‘how much her talent is appreciated. i assure you, sir,’ he added, turning to villebecque, ‘i heard but one opinion, but one expression of gratification at her feeling and her fine taste.’
‘the talent is hereditary,’ said villebecque.
‘indeed you have reason to say so,’ said coningsby.
‘pardon; i was not thinking of myself. my child reminded me so much of another this evening. but that is nothing. i am glad you are here, sir, to reassure mademoiselle.’
‘i came only to congratulate her, and to lament, for our sakes as well as her own, her indisposition.’
‘it is not indisposition,’ said la petite, in a low tone, with her eyes cast down.
‘mademoiselle cannot overcome the nervousness incidental to a first appearance,’ said villebecque.
‘a last appearance,’ said la petite: ‘yes, it must be the last.’ she rose gently, she approached villebecque, she laid her head on his breast, and placed her arms round his neck, ‘my father, my best father, yes, say it is the last.’
‘you are the mistress of your lot, flora,’ said villebecque; ‘but with such a distinguished talent—’
‘no, no, no; no talent. you are wrong, my father. i know myself. i am not of those to whom nature gives talents. i am born only for still life. i have no taste except for privacy. the convent is more suited to me than the stage.’
‘but you hear what this gentleman says,’ said villebecque, returning her embrace. ‘he tells you that his grandfather, my lord marquess, i believe, sir, that every one, that—’
‘oh, no, no, no!’ said flora, shaking her head. ‘he comes here because he is generous, because he is a gentleman; and he wished to soothe the soul that he knew was suffering. thank him, my father, thank him for me and before me, and promise in his presence that the stage and your daughter have parted for ever.’
‘nay, mademoiselle,’ said coningsby, advancing and venturing to take her hand, a soft hand, ‘make no such resolutions to-night. m. villebecque can have no other thought or object but your happiness; and, believe me, ‘tis not i only, but all, who appreciate, and, if they were here, must respect you.’
‘i prefer respect to admiration,’ said flora; ‘but i fear that respect is not the appanage of such as i am.’
‘all must respect those who respect themselves,’ said coningsby. ‘adieu, mademoiselle; i trust to-morrow to hear that you are yourself.’ he bowed to villebecque and retired.
in the meantime affairs in the drawing-room assumed a very different character from those behind the scenes. coningsby returned to brilliancy, groups apparently gushing with light-heartedness, universal content, and russian dances!
‘and you too, do you dance the russian dances, mr. coningsby?’ said madame colonna.
‘i cannot dance at all,’ said coningsby, beginning a little to lose his pride in the want of an accomplishment which at eton he had thought it spirited to despise.
‘ah! you cannot dance the russian dances! lucretia shall teach you,’ said the princess; ‘nothing will please her so much.’
on the present occasion the ladies were not so experienced in the entertainment as the gentlemen; but there was amusement in being instructed. to be disciplined by a grand-duke or a russian princess was all very well; but what even good-tempered lady gaythorp could not pardon was, that a certain mrs. guy flouncey, whom they were all of them trying to put down and to keep down, on this, as almost on every other occasion, proved herself a more finished performer than even the russians themselves.
lord monmouth had picked up the guy flounceys during a roman winter. they were people of some position in society. mr. guy flouncey was a man of good estate, a sportsman, proud of his pretty wife. mrs. guy flouncey was even very pretty, dressed in a style of ultra fashion. however, she could sing, dance, act, ride, and talk, and all well; and was mistress of the art of flirtation. she had amused the marquess abroad, and had taken care to call at monmouth house the instant the morning post apprised her he had arrived in england; the consequence was an invitation to coningsby. she came with a wardrobe which, in point of variety, fancy, and fashion, never was surpassed. morning and evening, every day a new dress equally striking; and a riding habit that was the talk and wonder of the whole neighbourhood. mrs. guy flouncey created far more sensation in the borough when she rode down the high street, than what the good people called the real princesses.
at first the fine ladies never noticed her, or only stared at her over their shoulders; everywhere sounded, in suppressed whispers, the fatal question, ‘who is she?’ after dinner they formed always into polite groups, from which mrs. guy flouncey was invariably excluded; and if ever the princess colonna, impelled partly by goodnature, and partly from having known her on the continent, did kindly sit by her, lady st. julians, or some dame equally benevolent, was sure, by an adroit appeal to her highness on some point which could not be decided without moving, to withdraw her from her pretty and persecuted companion.
it was, indeed, rather difficult work the first few days for mrs. guy flouncey, especially immediately after dinner. it is not soothing to one’s self-love to find oneself sitting alone, pretending to look at prints, in a fine drawing-room, full of fine people who don’t speak to you. but mrs. guy flouncey, after having taken coningsby castle by storm, was not to be driven out of its drawing-room by the tactics even of a lady st. julians. experience convinced her that all that was required was a little patience. mrs. guy had confidence in herself, her quickness, her ever ready accomplishments, and her practised powers of attraction. and she was right. she was always sure of an ally the moment the gentlemen appeared. the cavalier who had sat next to her at dinner was only too happy to meet her again. more than once, too, she had caught her noble host, though a whole garrison was ever on the watch to prevent her, and he was greatly amused, and showed that he was greatly amused by her society. then she suggested plans to him to divert his guests. in a country-house the suggestive mind is inestimable. somehow or other, before a week passed, mrs. guy flouncey seemed the soul of everything, was always surrounded by a cluster of admirers, and with what are called ‘the best men’ ever ready to ride with her, dance with her, act with her, or fall at her feet. the fine ladies found it absolutely necessary to thaw: they began to ask her questions after dinner. mrs. guy flouncey only wanted an opening. she was an adroit flatterer, with a temper imperturbable, and gifted with a ceaseless energy of conferring slight obligations. she lent them patterns for new fashions, in all which mysteries she was very versant; and what with some gentle glozing and some gay gossip, sugar for their tongues and salt for their tails, she contrived pretty well to catch them all.
