In the Shadows of Paris Read Online Free PDF Page B

I’m not used to being spoken to like that!’
    â€˜Well, you’d better get used to it. Monsieur Leglantier’s very tense these days,’ said Ravaillac. ‘He’s sunk every last penny into this theatre. It’s his pride and joy.’
    â€˜But the theatre hasn’t even opened yet. Where does he get his money?’
    â€˜A rich uncle or some shady business deals? How should I know? Apparently he’s sold a painting.’
    â€˜I know where he gets it,’ said the buxom Maria de Medici. ‘At the gaming table. He goes at it with the same passion as good King Henry when he was seducing young maidens. Edmond personifies the two masks of classical theatre, laughing one minute, crying the next. If he’s splitting his sides, it means he’s winning at baccarat; if he’s grimacing, he’s been cleaned out the night before. Fortunately he laughs more often than he cries!’
    Ravaillac was surprised.
    â€˜I don’t know where he finds the time. He spends hours at the theatre ordering the wardrobe mistresses about, spying on the stagehands, pestering the actors and explaining Hamlet, Le Cid or Andromaque to the extras who couldn’t give a fig!’
    â€˜Oh, he finds the time all right, don’t you worry! He’s as strong as an ox, despite being fifty. It’s common knowledge that he has several mistresses. The official one is Adélaïde Paillet. She gets two nights a week and, when he’s fulfilled his obligations there, his passion for cards takes him to the club on the Boulevard. He goes on gambling, promising himself he’ll stop as soon as he makes a big win. He’s been on a winning streak the past few nights, which means his purse is full and we’ll get paid.’
    â€˜Does he never stop?’ asked Andréa.
    â€˜He goes to bed at dawn and gets up at noon.’
    â€˜You seem to know an awful lot about him, Eugénie,’ remarked Ravaillac. ‘Anybody would think you were privy to the maestro’s secrets…Pillow talk, perhaps?’
    â€˜Isn’t Maria de Medici Henry IV’s other half, clever-clogs?’
    A voice boomed, ‘Company on stage!’ and they scurried back to the boards where King Henry sat on high in an open carriage while some stagehands struggled to put up a backdrop representing Rue de la Ferronnerie, with its letter-writers’ and washerwomen’s shops.
    â€˜Hey! Wake up, Ravaillac! Where’s your wig? You’re supposed to be a redhead. What on earth possessed me to hire such a ham! For heaven’s sake, you’re meant to cut my throat, not sit around jabbering with these ladies!’
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    The manager’s office was on the second floor, above the foyer. As soon as the rehearsal had finished, Edmond Leglantier hurried upstairs to change. He peeled off his false beard, smothered his face in cold cream, cleaned off the greasepaint and coloured his salt-and-pepper moustache with some makeup filched from Eugénie. He crooned as he buttoned his shirt:
    â€˜ No more gaming at the table
    Ding dong! The horse is in the stable.
    A fine, handsome role awaits me
    A Don Diego or an Othello!
    â€˜I can smell it. That fickle mistress fame will be mine! I’ll spare no expense, gilt chairs and electric lighting in the auditorium if you please! Who would dare question my luck? I shan’t be playing baccarat tonight, I’ll be playing the players, and it will be the performance of a lifetime!’
    He took a bundle of shares from a drawer, and studied one of them. An elegantly crossed pipe and cigar holder framed in wreaths of smoke a text, which he read out pompously:
    Â 
    â€˜Public Company
    AMBREX
    Statutes registered with Maître Piard, Notary of Paris,
    14 February 1893
    ISSUED CAPITAL 1,000,000 francs
    Divided into 2,000 shares of 500 francs each
    HEAD OFFICE: PARIS
    The holder is beneficiary of the share
    Paris, 30 April 1893
    Director