THE WORKS OF ANATOLE FRANCE IN AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION EDITED BY J. LEWIS MAY AND BERNARD MIALL
A MUMMER'S TALE
(HISTOIRE COMIQUE)
A MUMMER'S TALE
BY ANATOLE FRANCE
A TRANSLATION BY CHARLES E. ROCHE
LONDON, JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY: MCMXXI
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES, ENGLAND
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. 1
II. 21
III. 26
IV. 41
V. 63
VI. 71
VII. 82
VIII. 97
IX. 108
X. 137
XI. 166
XII. 176
XIII. 181
XIV. 186
XV. 194
XVI. 197
XVII. 205
XVIII. 212
XIX. 220
XX. 230
A MUMMER'S TALE
A MUMMER'S TALE
CHAPTER I
The scene was an actress's dressing-room at the Odeon.
Felicie Nanteuil, her hair powdered, with blue on her eyelids, rouge on her cheeks and ears, and white on her neck and shoulders, was holding out her foot to Madame Michon, the dresser, who was fitting on a pair of little black slippers with red heels. Dr. Trublet, the physician attached to the theatre, and a friend of the actress's, was resting his bald cranium on a cushion of the divan, his hands folded upon his stomach and his short legs crossed.
"What else, my dear?" he inquired of her.
"Oh, I don't know! Fits of suffocation; giddiness; and, all of a sudden, an agonizing pain, as if I were going to die. That's the worst of all."
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: A Mummer's Tale by Anatole France
- 2: Madame Michon was adjusting the actress's stays
- 3: Nanteuil laughed as she listened
- 4: Unable to brook such insolence Michon
- 5: Isn't La Mere confidente by Marivaux
- 6: From the depths of his cushions Trublet
- 7: Without wasting any particular courtesies on Madame Doulce
- 8: Robert de Ligny took a cigarette from his case
- 9: Girmandel had been nothing more than a friend
- 10: To wait for Felicie at her mother's flat
- 11: He was full of an eager desire that Felicie
- 12: Felicie had given Girmandel the go by
- 13: Madame Nanteuil begged him to stay
- 14: Awaited Felicie in depressing silence
- 15: Choking with astonishment and anger
- 16: We will resume our pleasant habits of the Rue des Martyrs
- 17: Durville replied And in the best sense
- 18: She pondered deeply over Chevalier
- 19: When Jenny Fagette came to join her there
- 20: She called him very softly Deutz
- 21: And the author exclaimed Pradel
- 22: Romilly was shaking hands with Monsieur Gombaut
- 23: Fagette thought you were wonderful
- 24: Nanteuil uneasily sought a meaning in these confused phrases
- 25: Felicie succumbed to a fit of tears
- 26: He remained until Ligny had emerged from the house
- 27: I am one of the principal actors at the Odeon
- 28: Don't you love your own Felicie
- 29: Madame Simonneau was a woman from Neuilly
- 30: Slightly raised by a pillow slipped beneath her loins
- 31: Felicie was very quick in dressing herself
- 32: Ligny had hurriedly come forward
- 33: Which was still emitting an insufficient light
- 34: Madame Simonneau was not at home
- 35: Thanks to the industry of Madame Simonneau
- 36: Madame Simonneau showing the way
- 37: Returning on foot to the barrier
- 38: ' Delage read his reply 'It may be
- 39: Said Pradel to the dismayed author
- 40: Fongeray is the pseudonym of two Liberals of the Restoration
- 41: Romilly called to Nanteuil Nanteuil
- 42: Madame Doulce hastened back to the theatre
- 43: But Constantin Marc was inquiring of Pradel with interest
- 44: Said Trublet I do not gainsay it
- 45: You always attended poor Chevalier
- 46: Will and responsibility are not illusions
- 47: This enables us to exterminate them without remorse
- 48: Pradel rose and said Believe me
- 49: A crafty looking old gentleman
- 50: To kiss Rameses on the nostrils
- 51: I could readily imagine that Selim
- 52: There is nothing after death that could frighten you
- 53: Pradel plucked Trublet by the sleeve
- 54: The body of Messire Jean Racine
- 55: How could that little Nanteuil
- 56: That Nanteuil is going to join the Comedie Francaise
- 57: She seized Nanteuil as she was passing
- 58: Constantin Marc inquired of Romilly
- 59: In the Boulevard Saint Michel Pradel
- 60: Monsieur de Ligny surprised Chevalier with Nanteuil
- 61: The priests and the choristers
- 62: Anima ejus et animae omnium fidelium defunctorum
- 63: But it is always the same cassoulet
- 64: Blamed himself for his harsh and useless words
- 65: Felicie knew nothing of the private life of Madame de Ligny
- 66: La Grille is being rehearsed this afternoon
- 67: In his impatience he helped her to undo her cloth frock
- 68: You must know that Pradel has established a rule
- 69: He decided in favour of The Hague
- 70: He did not particularly care to meet Madame Nanteuil
- 71: Felicie and Robert looked at her without understanding
- 72: It will make Romilly tear his hair
- 73: To soothe him with lying promises
- 74: Pointing to a cab which had just passed them
- 75: But I thought the chalet was closed at this time of the year
- 76: She met at the theatre a Monsieur Bondois
- 77: And for Monsieur Bondois himself
- 78: You will cure yourself my child
- 79: I must go to Madame Royaumont to morrow
- 80: Madame Nanteuil demanded Who is there
- 81: She would divide herself into two beings
- 82: If only Durville is not going to rag me on the stage
- 83: Adolphe Meunier entered discreetly on tiptoe
- 84: Monsieur Meunier knows it well
- 85: But neither Madame Bourmdernoot of Brussels
- 86: When do you make your debut at the Comedie
- 87: D'une troisieme aussitot repartant
- 88: Nouvelle reverence aussi je lui rendais