CHAPTER XII.
In which everything depends on Sir Isaac's success in discovering
the law of attraction.
On the appointed evening, at eight o'clock, the great room of the
Gatesboro' Athenaeum was unusually well filled. Not only had the Mayor
exerted himself to the utmost for that object, but the hand-bill itself
promised a rare relief from the prosiness of abstract enlightenment and
elevated knowledge. Moreover, the stranger himself had begun to excite
speculation and curiosity. He was an amateur, not a cut-and-dry
professor. The Mayor and Mr. Williams had both spread the report that
there was more in him than appeared on the surface; prodigiously learned,
but extremely agreeable, fine manners, too!--Who could he be? Was
Chapman his real name? etc.
The Comedian had obtained permission to arrange the room beforehand.
He had the raised portion of it for his stage, and he had been fortunate
enough to find a green curtain to be drawn across it. From behind this
screen he now emerged and bowed. The bow redoubled the first
conventional applause. He then began a very short address,--extremely
well delivered, as you may suppose, but rather in the conversational than
the oratorical style. He said it was his object to exhibit the
intelligence of that Universal Friend of Man, the Dog, in some manner
appropriate, not only to its sagacious instincts, but to its affectionate
nature, and to convey thereby the moral that talents, however great,
learning, however deep, were of no avail, unless rendered serviceable to
Man. (Applause.) He must be pardoned then, if, in order to effect this
object, he was compelled to borrow some harmless effects from the stage.
In a word, his dog could represent to them the plot of a little drama.
And he, though he could not say that he was altogether unaccustomed to
public speaking (here a smile, modest, but august as that of some famous
parliamentary orator who makes his first appearance at a vestry), still
wholly new to its practice in the special part he had undertaken, would
rely on their indulgence to efforts aspiring to no other merit than that
of aiding the Hero of the Piece in a familiar illustration of those
qualities in which dogs might give a lesson to humanity. Again he bowed,
and retired behind the curtain. A pause of three minutes! the curtain
drew up. Could that be the same Mr. Chapman whom the spectators beheld
before them? Could three minutes suffice to change the sleek,
respectable, prosperous-looking gentleman who had just addressed them
into that image of threadbare poverty and hunger-pinched dejection?
Little aid from theatrical costume: the clothes seemed the same, only to
have grown wondrous aged and rusty. The face, the figure, the man,--
these had undergone a transmutation beyond the art of the mere stage
wardrobe, be it ever so amply stored, to effect. But for the patch over
the eye, you could not have recognized Mr. Chapman. There was, indeed,
about him, still, an air of dignity; but it was the dignity of woe,--
a dignity, too, not of an affable civilian, but of some veteran soldier.
You could not mistake. Though not in uniform, the melancholy man must
have been a warrior! The way the coat was buttoned across the chest, the
black stock tightened round the throat, the shoulders thrown back in the
disciplined habit of a life, though the head bent forward in the
despondency of an eventful crisis,--all spoke the decayed but not
ignoble hero of a hundred fields.
There was something foreign, too, about the veteran's air. Mr. Chapman
had looked so thoroughly English: that tragical and meagre personage
looked so unequivocally French.
Not a word had the Comedian yet said; and yet all this had the first
sight of him conveyed to the audience. There was an amazed murmur, then
breathless stillness; the story rapidly unfolded itself, partly by words,
much more by look and ac tion. There sat a soldier who had fought under
Napoleon at Marengo and Austerlitz, gone through the snows of Muscovy,
escaped the fires of Waterloo,--the soldier of the Empire! Wondrous
ideal of a wondrous time! and nowhere winning more respect and awe than
in that land of the old English foe, in which with slight knowledge of
the Beautiful in Art, there is so reverent a sympathy for all that is
grand in Man! There sat the soldier, penniless and friendless, there,
scarcely seen, reclined his grandchild, weak and slowly dying for the
want of food; and all that the soldier possesses wherewith to buy bread
for the day, is his cross of the Legion of Honour. It was given to him
by the hand of the Emperor: must he pawn or sell it? Out on the pomp of
decoration which we have substituted for the voice of passionate nature
on our fallen stage! Scenes so faithful to the shaft of a column,--
dresses by which an antiquary can define a date to a year! Is delusion
there? Is it thus we are snatched from Thebes to Athens? No; place a
really fine actor on a deal board, and for Thebes and Athens you may hang
up a blanket! Why, that very cross which the old soldier holds--away
from his sight--in that tremulous hand, is but patched up from the foil
and cardboard bought at the stationer's shop. You might see it was
nothing more, if you tried to see. Did a soul present think of such
minute investigation? Not one. In the actor's hand that trumpery became
at once the glorious thing by which Napoleon had planted the sentiment of
knightly heroism in the men whom Danton would have launched upon earth
ruthless and bestial, as galley-slaves that had burst their chain.
The badge, wrought from foil and cardboard, took life and soul: it begot
an interest, inspired a pathos, as much as if it had been made--oh! not
of gold and gems, but of flesh and blood. And the simple broken words
that the veteran addressed to it! The scenes, the fields, the hopes, the
glories it conjured up! And now to be wrenched away,--sold to supply
Man's humblest, meanest wants,--sold--the last symbol of such a past!
It was indeed "/propter vitam vivendi perdere causas/." He would have
starved rather,--but the child? And then the child rose up and came into
play. She would not suffer such a sacrifice,--she was not hungry,--she
was not weak; and when her voice failed her, she looked up into that iron
face and smiled,--nothing but a smile. Outcame the pocket-handkerchiefs!
The soldier seizes the cross, and turns away. It shall be sold! As he
opens the door, a dog enters gravely,--licks his hand, approaches the
table, raises itself on its hind legs, surveys the table dolefully,
shakes its head, whines, comes to its master, pulls him by the skirt,
looks into his face inquisitively.
What does all this mean? It soon comes out, and very naturally. The dog
belonged to an old fellow-soldier, who had gone to the Isle of France to
claim his share in the inheritance of a brother who had settled and died
there, and who, meanwhile, had confided it to the care of our veteran,
who was then in comparatively easy circumstances, since ruined by the
failure and fraud of a banker to whom he had intrusted his all; and his
small pension, including the yearly sum to which his cross entitled him,
had been forestalled and mortgaged to pay the petty debts which, relying
on his dividend from the banker, he had innocently incurred. The dog's
owner had been gone for months; his return might be daily expected.
Meanwhile the dog was at the hearth, but the wolf at the door. Now, this
sagacious animal had been taught to perform the duties of messenger and
major-domo. At stated intervals he applied to his master for sous, and
brought back the supplies which the sous purchased. He now, as usual,
came to the table for the accustomed coin--the last sou was gone,--the
dog's occupation was at an end. But could not the dog be sold?
Impossible: it was the property of another,--a sacred deposit; one would
be as bad as the fraudulent banker if one could apply to one's own
necessities the property one holds in trust. These little biographical
particulars came out in that sort of bitter and pathetic humour which a
study of Shakspeare, or the experience of actual life, had taught the
Comedian to be a natural relief to an intense sorrow. The dog meanwhile
aided the narrative by his by-play. Still intent upon the sous, he
thrust his nose into his master's pockets; he appealed touchingly to the
child, and finally put back his head and vented his emotion in a
lugubrious and elegiacal howl. Suddenly there is heard without the sound
of a showman's tin trumpet! Whether the actor had got some obliging
person to perform on that instrument, or whether, as more likely, it was
but a trick of ventriloquism, we leave to conjecture. At that note, an
idea seemed to seize the dog. He ran first to his master, who was on the
threshold about to depart; pulled him back into the centre of the room:
next he ran to the child, dragging her towards the same spot, though with
great tenderness, and then, uttering a joyous bark, he raised himself on
his hind legs and, with incomparable solemnity, performed a minuet step!
The child catches the idea from the dog. Was he not more worth seeing
than the puppet-show in the streets? might not people give money to see
him, and the old soldier still keep his cross? To-day there is a public
fete in the gardens yonder: that showman must be going thither; why not
go too? What! he the old soldier,--he stoop to show off a dog! he! he!
The dog looked at him deprecatingly and stretched himself on the floor--
lifeless.
Yes, that is the alternative--shall his child die too, and he be too
proud to save her? Ah! and if the cross can be saved also! But pshaw!
what did the dog know that people would care to see? Oh, much, much.
When the child was alone and sad, it would come and play with her. See
those old dominos! She ranged them on the floor, and the dog leaped up
and came to prove his skill. Artfully, then, the Comedian had planned
that the dog should make some sad mistakes, alternated by some marvellous
surprises. No, he would not do: yes, he would do. The audience took it
seriously, and became intensely interested in the dog's success; so sorry
for his blunders, so triumphant in his lucky hits. And then the child
calmed the hasty irritable old man so sweetly, and corrected the dog so
gently, and talked to the animal; told it how much they relied on it, and
produced her infant alphabet, and spelt out "Save us." The dog looked at
the letters meditatively, and henceforth it was evident that he took more
pains. Better and better; he will do, he will do! The child shall not
starve, the cross shall not be sold. Down drops the curtain.
End of Act I.
Act II. opens with a dialogue spoken off the stage. Invisible dramatis
persona, that subsist, with airy tongues, upon the mimetic art of the
Comedian. You understand that there is a vehement dispute going on. The
dog must not be admitted into a part of the gardens where a more refined
and exclusive section of the company have hired seats, in order to
contemplate, without sharing, the rude dances or jostling promenade of
the promiscuous merry-makers. Much hubbub, much humour; some persons for
the dog, some against him; privilege and decorum here, equality and
fraternity there. A Bonapartist colonel sees the cross on the soldier's
breast, and, /mille tonnerres/! he settles the point. He pays for three
reserved seats,--one for the soldier, one for the child, and a third for
the dog. The veteran enters,--the child, not strong enough to have
pushed through the crowd, raised on his shoulder, Rolla-like; the dog led
by a string. He enters erect and warrior-like; his spirit has been
roused by contest; his struggles have been crowned by victory. But (and
here the art of the drama and the actor culminated towards the highest
point)--but he now at once includes in the list of his dramatis persona
the whole of his Gatesboro' audience. They are that select company into
which he has thus forced his way. As he sees them seated before him, so
calm, orderly, and dignified, /mauvaise honte/ steals over the breast
more accustomed to front the cannon than the battery of ladies' eyes.
He places the child in a chair abashed and humbled; he drops into a seat
beside her shrinkingly; and the dog, with more self-possession and sense
of his own consequence, brushes with his paw some imaginary dust from a
third chair, as in the superciliousness of the well dressed, and then
seats himself, and looks round with serene audacity.
The chairs were skilfully placed on one side of the stage, as close as
possible to the front row of the audience. The soldier ventures a
furtive glance along the lines, and then speaks to his grandchild in
whispered, bated breath: "Now they are there, what are they come for?
To beg? He can never have the boldness to exhibit an animal for sous,--
impossible; no, no, let them slink back again and sell the cross." And
the child whispers courage; bids him look again along the rows; those
faces seem very kind. He again lifts his eyes, glances round, and with
an extemporaneous tact that completed the illusion to which the audience
were already gently lending themselves, made sundry complimentary
comments on the different faces actually before him, selected most
felicitously. The audience, taken by surprise, as some fair female, or
kindly burgess, familiar to their associations, was thus pointed out to
their applause, became heartily genial in their cheers and laughter.
And the Comedian's face, unmoved by such demonstrations,--so shy and
sad, insinuated its pathos underneath cheer and laugh. You now learned
through the child that a dance, on which the company had been supposed to
be gazing, was concluded, and that they would not be displeased by an
interval of some other diversion. Now was the tune! The dog, as if to
convey a sense of the prevalent ennui, yawned audibly, patted the child
on the shoulder, and looked up in her face. "A game of dominos,"
whispered the little girl. The dog gleefully grinned assent. Timidly
she stole forth the old dominos, and ranged them on the ground; on which
she slipped from her chair, the dog slipped from his; they began to play.
The experiment was launched; the soldier saw that the curiosity of the
company was excited, that the show would commence, the sons follow; and
as if he at least would not openly shame his service and his Emperor, he
turned aside, slid his hand to his breast, tore away his cross, and hid
it. Scarce a murmured word accompanied the action, the acting said all;
and a noble thrill ran through the audience. Oh, sublime art of the
mime!
The Mayor sat very near where the child and dog were at play. The
Comedian had (as he before implied he would do) discreetly prepared that
gentleman for direct and personal appeal. The little girl turned her
blue eyes innocently towards Mr. Hartopp, and said, "The dog beats me,
sir; will you try what you can do?"
A roar, and universal clapping of hands, amidst which the worthy
magistrate stepped on the stage. At the command of its young mistress
the dog made the magistrate a polite bow, and straight to the game went
magistrate and dog. From that time the interest became, as it were,
personal to all present. "Will you come, sir," said the child to a young
gentleman, who was straining his neck to see how the dominos were played,
"and observe that it is all fair? You, too, sir?" to Mr. Williams. The
Comedian stood beside the dog, whose movements he directed with
undetected skill, while appearing only to fix his eyes on the ground in
conscious abasement. Those on the rows from behind now pressed forward;
those in advance either came on the stage, or stood up intently
contemplating. The Mayor was defeated, the crowd became too thick, and
the caresses bestowed on the dog seemed to fatigue him. He rose and
retreated to a corner haughtily. "Manners, sir," said the soldier; "it
is not for the like of us to be proud; excuse him, ladies and gentlemen.
"He only wishes to please all," said the child, deprecatingly. "Say how
many would you have round us at a time, so that the rest may not be
prevented seeing you." She spread the multiplication figures before the
dog; the dog put his paw on 10. "Astonishing!" said the Mayor.
"Will you choose them yourself, sir?"
The dog nodded, walked leisurely round, keeping one eye towards the one
eye of his master and selected ten persons, amongst whom were the Mayor,
Mr. Williams, and three pretty young ladies who had been induced to
ascend the stage. The others were chosen no less judiciously.
The dog was then artfully led on from one accomplishment to another,
much within the ordinary range which bounds the instruction of learned
animals. He was asked to say how many ladies were on the stage: he spelt
three. What were their names? "The Graces." Then he was asked who was
the first magistrate in the town. The dog made a bow to the Mayor.
"What had made that gentleman first magistrate?" The dog looked to the
alphabet and spelt "Worth." "Were there any persons present more
powerful than the Mayor?" The dog bowed to the three young ladies.
"What made them more powerful?" The dog spelt "Beauty." When ended the
applause these answers received, the dog went through the musket exercise
with the soldier's staff; and as soon as he had performed that, he came
to the business part of the exhibition, seized the hat which his master
had dropped on the ground, and carried it round to each person on the
stage. They looked at one another. "He is a poor soldier's dog," said
the child, hiding her face. "No, no; a soldier cannot beg," cried the
Comedian. The Mayor dropped a coin in the hat; others did the same or
affected to do it. The dog took the hat to his master, who waved him
aside. There was a pause. The dog laid the hat softly at the soldier's
feet, and looked up at the child beseechingly. "What," asked she,
raising her head proudly--"what secures WORTH and defends BEAUTY?" The
dog took up the staff and shouldered it. "And to what can the soldier
look for aid when he starves and will not beg?" The dog seemed puzzled,
--the suspense was awful. "Good heavens," thought the Comedian, "if the
brute should break down after all!--and when I took such care that the
words should lie undisturbed-right before his nose!" With a deep sigh
the veteran started from his despondent attitude, and crept along the
floor as if for escape--so broken-down, so crestfallen. Every eye was on
that heartbroken face and receding figure; and the eye of that
heartbroken face was on the dog, and the foot of that receding figure
seemed to tremble, recoil, start, as it passed by the alphabetical
letters which still lay on the ground as last arranged. "Ah! to what
should he look for aid?" repeated the grandchild, clasping her little
hands. The dog had now caught the cue, and put his paw first upon
"WORTH," and then upon "BEAUTY."
"Worth!" cried the ladies--"Beauty!" exclaimed the Mayor. "Wonderful,
wonderful!"
"Take up the hat," said the child, and turning to the Mayor--"Ah! tell
him, sir, that what Worth and Beauty give to Valour in distress is not
alms but tribute."
The words were little better than a hack claptrap; but the sweet voice
glided through the assembly, and found its way into every heart.
"Is it so?" asked the old soldier, as his hand hoveringly passed above
the coins. "Upon my honour it is, sir!" said the Mayor, with serious
emphasis. The audience thought it the best speech he had ever made in
his life, and cheered him till the roof rang again. "Oh! bread, bread,
for you, darling!" cried the veteran, bowing his head over the child, and
taking out his cross and kissing it with passion; "and the badge of
honour still for me!"
While the audience was in the full depth of its emotion, and generous
tears in many an eye, Waife seized his moment, dropped the actor, and
stepped forth to the front as the man--simple, quiet, earnest man--artless
man!
"This is no mimic scene, ladies and gentlemen. It is a tale in real life
that stands out before you. I am here to appeal to those hearts that are
not vainly open to human sorrows. I plead for what I have represented.
True, that the man who needs your aid is not one of that soldiery which
devastated Europe. But he has fought in battles as severe, and been left
by fortune to as stern a desolation. True, he is not a Frenchman; he is
one of a land you will not love less than France,--it is your own. He,
too, has a child whom he would save from famine. He, too, has nothing
left to sell or to pawn for bread,--except--oh, not this gilded badge,
see, this is only foil and cardboard,--except, I say, the thing itself,
of which you respect even so poor a symbol,--nothing left to sell or to
pawn but Honour! For these I have pleaded this night as a showman; for
these, less haughty than the Frenchman, I stretch my hands towards you
without shame; for these I am a beggar."
He was silent. The dog quietly took up the hat and approached the Mayor
again. The Mayor extracted the half-crown he had previously deposited,
and dropped into the hat two golden sovereigns. Who does not guess the
rest? All crowded forward,--youth and age, man and woman. And most
ardent of all were those whose life stands most close to vicissitude,
most exposed to beggary, most sorely tried in the alternative between
bread and honour. Not an operative there but spared his mite.
