CHAPTER LI.
The theatre wherein was enacted the "Donkey's Skin," very much
amplified and more elaborate, had now a permanent place in my aunt
Claire's room. Little Jeanne, more interested in it since the
additions to the scenery and the text, came over oftener; she painted
backgrounds under my direction, and the moments I enjoyed most were
those in which I impressed her with my great superiority. We had now a
box full of characters, each with a name and a role; and the fantastic
processions were made up of regiments of monsters, beasts and gnomes
made out of plaster and painted with water colors.
I recall our delight and enthusiasm when we tried for the first time
the effect of a scenic background which we had made to represent the
"void of heaven." Delicate rosy clouds, bespeaking the dawn, floated
over the blue expanse that was softened and paled by the gauze hanging
in front of it. And the chariot of a silken-haired fairy, drawn by two
butterflies and suspended on invisible threads, advanced towards the
centre of the scene.
But in spite of our efforts our work was never finished, for we took
no account of limitations; every day we had new ideas and ever more
and more wonderful projects, and the great comprehensive
representation was deferred from day to day, was postponed to a future
that never came.
Every undertaking of my life will be, or has already been, left
unfinished and incomplete as was that little play of the "Donkey's
Skin."
