The Argosy — page 305: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Débutof Mademoiselle Agathe. 291 - “Don’t talk nonsense, monsieur, but give it me directly ; I’m dying to see how long it is. Ten, fifteen, twenty pages! and look, mother, how delightful !—one couplet, two couplets. Does Mdile. Amanda sing, Jules ?” ‘Sing ! witha voice like a nutmeg-grater, and every second note a Couac! No, no; if she plays Ernestine, out go the couplets. The chef- d’orchestre wouldn’t stand it. Is your clock right, Mére Boquillard ? ” “With the Bourse to a minute, Monsieur Jules,” answered the portress. ‘Then I have just time for a cutlet before I go to the theatre. Adieu, Mdlle. Fleury,” continued he, gaily. “Think of your début, and leave the rest to me. Au revoir, la mtre!” ““C’est égal!” grumbled Madame Boquillard, as he. hurried out of the loge. ‘ Fleury’s a pretty name enough, but it doesn't sound half so aristo as Beauval,”’ Mademoiselle Amanda, the leading actress of the Nonpareil, occu- pied a spacious apartment on the second-floor of a newly built mansion on the Boulevard Malesherbes; and at the identical moment when Jules Laroche quitted the abode of his betrothed for the purpose of devoting a quarter of an hour to a hasty déjeQner, was engaged in leisurely terminating her own morning repast, consisting of a delicate slice of paté-de-foie-gras and a cup of chocolate. While indolently dallying with these dainties, she occasionally glanced at a theatrical journal which lay beside her, wet from the press, and probably criticis- ing some novelty of the previous evening; but her attention appeared to be principally absorbed by a pet spaniel, perpetually begging for tid- bits, and snugly ensconced in a chair adjoining that of his mistress, Mdlle. Amanda was tall and strikingly handsome, but the expression of her countenance was not altogether pleasing; her eyes, of the deepest blue, were singularly lustrous, and an abundance of dark brown hair, the especial pride of her coiffeur, hung over her finely shaped shoulders in picturesque disorder ; but her lips were thin, and there was a cold hardness about her mouth and chin suggestive rather of obstinacy than of good temper. By her own account, she was twenty-four years of age; had the certificate of her birth been consulted, we suspect that twenty- nine would have been nearer the mark ; but as we are bound to respect the well-known feminine axiom, “ On a toujours l’age qu’on parait avoir,” and as Mdlle. Amanda really looked younger than she actually was, it would be an unpardonable act of lése-gallantry to investigate too closely the mysteries of the parish register. Presently, after taking a final sip of chocolate, and throwing the Gazette des Théatres listlessly aside, she rang a small hand-bell; a summons instantly responded to by the entrance of a sallow-cheeked damsel, neatly attired in a well-fitting cotton gown and black silk apron. GOR GIOO a) SS (CO)