He
had composed the verse himself, inspired and thoroughly carried
away by his subject; he suffered, therefore, a double pang in
beholding his tribute deflected from its destined object, and his
words mutilated and twisted into what became an extravagant
panegyric on the Baroness's personal charms. It was from this
moment that he became gentle and assiduous in his private coaching
of Cassandra.
The County, forgetting its dissensions, mustered in full strength
to witness the much-talked-of production. The protective
Providence that looks after little children and amateur
theatricals made good its traditional promise that everything
should be right on the night. The Baroness and Clovis seemed to
have sunk their mutual differences, and between them dominated the
scene to the partial eclipse of all the other characters, who, for
the most part, seemed well content to remain in the shadow. Even
Agamemnon, with ten years of strenuous life around Troy standing
to his credit, appeared to be an unobtrusive personality compared
with his flamboyant charioteer. But the moment came for Cassandra
(who had been excused from any very definite outpourings during
rehearsals) to support her r?le by delivering herself of a few
well-chosen anticipations of pending misfortune.
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