The Reign of Greed Part 27

The truth was that Padre Irene, who was a melomaniac of the first degree and knew French well, had been sent to the theater by Padre Salvi as a sort of religious detective, or so at least he told the persons who recognized him. As a faithful critic, who should not be satisfied with viewing the piece from a distance, he wished to examine the actresses at first hand, so he had mingled in the groups of admirers and gallants, had penetrated into the greenroom, where was whispered and talked a French required by the situation, a _market French_, a language that is readily comprehensible for the vender when the buyer seems disposed to pay well.

Serpolette was surrounded by two gallant officers, a sailor, and a lawyer, when she caught sight of him moving about, sticking the tip of his long nose into all the nooks and corners, as though with it he were ferreting out all the mysteries of the stage. She ceased her chatter, knitted her eyebrows, then raised them, opened her lips and with the vivacity of a _Parisienne_ left her admirers to hurl herself like a torpedo upon our critic.

"_Tiens, tiens, Toutou! Mon lapin!_" she cried, catching Padre Irene's arm and shaking it merrily, while the air rang with her silvery laugh.

"Tut, tut!" objected Padre Irene, endeavoring to conceal himself.

"_Mais, comment! Toi ici, grosse bete! Et moi qui t'croyais--_"

"_'Tais pas d'tapage, Lily! Il faut m'respecter! 'Suis ici l'Pape!_"

With great difficulty Padre Irene made her listen to reason, for Lily was _enchantee_ to meet in Manila an old friend who reminded her of the _coulisses_ of the Grand Opera House. So it was that Padre Irene, fulfilling at the same time his duties as a friend and a critic, had initiated the applause to encourage her, for Serpolette deserved it.

Meanwhile, the young men were waiting for the cancan. Pecson became all eyes, but there was everything except cancan. There was presented the scene in which, but for the timely arrival of the representatives of the law, the women would have come to blows and torn one another's hair out, incited thereto by the mischievous peasants, who, like our students, hoped to see something more than the cancan.

Scit, scit, scit, scit, scit, scit, Disputez-vous, battez-vous, Scit, scit, scit, scit, scit, scit, Nous allons compter les coups.

The music ceased, the men went away, the women returned, a few at a time, and started a conversation among themselves, of which our friends understood nothing. They were slandering some absent person.

"They look like the Chinamen of the _pansiteria!_" whispered Pecson.

"But, the cancan?" asked Makaraig.

"They're talking about the most suitable place to dance it," gravely responded Sandoval.

"They look like the Chinamen of the _pansiteria_," repeated Pecson in disgust.

A lady accompanied by her husband entered at that moment and took her place in one of the two vacant boxes. She had the air of a queen and gazed disdainfully at the whole house, as if to say, "I've come later than all of you, you crowd of upstarts and provincials, I've come later than you!" There are persons who go to the theater like the contestants in a mule-race: the last one in, wins, and we know very sensible men who would ascend the scaffold rather than enter a theater before the first act. But the lady's triumph was of short duration--she caught sight of the other box that was still empty, and began to scold her better half, thus starting such a disturbance that many were annoyed.

"Ss.h.!.+ Ss.h.!.+"

"The blockheads! As if they understood French!" remarked the lady, gazing with supreme disdain in all directions, finally fixing her attention on Juanito's box, whence she thought she had heard an impudent hiss.

Juanito was in fact guilty, for he had been pretending to understand everything, holding himself up proudly and applauding at times as though nothing that was said escaped him, and this too without guiding himself by the actors' pantomime, because he scarcely looked toward the stage. The rogue had intentionally remarked to Paulita that, as there was so much more beautiful a woman close at hand, he did not care to strain his eyes looking beyond her. Paulita had blushed, covered her face with her fan, and glanced stealthily toward where Isagani, silent and morose, was abstractedly watching the show.

Paulita felt nettled and jealous. Would Isagani fall in love with any of those alluring actresses? The thought put her in a bad humor, so she scarcely heard the praises that Dona Victorina was heaping upon her own favorite.

Juanito was playing his part well: he shook his head at times in sign of disapproval, and then there could be heard coughs and murmurs in some parts, at other times he smiled in approbation, and a second later applause resounded. Dona Victorina was charmed, even conceiving some vague ideas of marrying the young man the day Don Tiburcio should die--Juanito knew French and De Espadana didn't! Then she began to flatter him, nor did he perceive the change in the drift of her talk, so occupied was he in watching a Catalan merchant who was sitting next to the Swiss consul. Having observed that they were conversing in French, Juanito was getting his inspiration from their countenances, and thus grandly giving the cue to those about him.

Scene followed scene, character succeeded character, comic and ridiculous like the bailiff and Grenicheux, imposing and winsome like the marquis and Germaine. The audience laughed heartily at the slap delivered by Gaspard and intended for the coward Grenicheux, which was received by the grave bailiff, whose wig went flying through the air, producing disorder and confusion as the curtain dropped.

"Where's the cancan?" inquired Tadeo.

But the curtain rose again immediately, revealing a scene in a servant market, with three posts on which were affixed signs bearing the announcements: _servantes_, _cochers_, and _domestiques_. Juanito, to improve the opportunity, turned to Dona Victorina and said in a loud voice, so that Paulita might hear and he convinced of his learning:

"_Servantes_ means servants, _domestiques_ domestics."

"And in what way do the _servantes_ differ from the _domestiques_?" asked Paulita.

Juanito was not found wanting. "_Domestiques_ are those that are domesticated--haven't you noticed that some of them have the air of savages? Those are the _servantes_."

"That's right," added Dona Victorina, "some have very bad manners--and yet I thought that in Europe everybody was cultivated. But as it happens in France,--well, I see!"

"Ss.h.!.+ Ss.h.!.+"

But what was Juanito's predicament when the time came for the opening of the market and the beginning of the sale, and the servants who were to be hired placed themselves beside the signs that indicated their cla.s.s! The men, some ten or twelve rough characters in livery, carrying branches in their hands, took their place under the sign _domestiques_!

"Those are the domestics," explained Juanito.

"Really, they have the appearance of being only recently domesticated,"

observed Dona Victorina. "Now let's have a look at the savages."

Then the dozen girls headed by the lively and merry Serpolette, decked out in their best clothes, each wearing a big bouquet of flowers at the waist, laughing, smiling, fresh and attractive, placed themselves, to Juanito's great desperation, beside the post of the _servantes_.

"How's this?" asked Paulita guilelessly. "Are those the savages that you spoke of?"

"No," replied the imperturbable Juanito, "there's a mistake--they've got their places mixed--those coming behind--"

"Those with the whips?"

Juanito nodded a.s.sent, but he was rather perplexed and uneasy.

"So those girls are the _cochers_?"

Here Juanito was attacked by such a violent fit of coughing that some of the spectators became annoyed.

"Put him out! Put the consumptive out!" called a voice.

Consumptive! To be called a consumptive before Paulita! Juanito wanted to find the blackguard and make him swallow that "consumptive." Observing that the women were trying to hold him back, his bravado increased, and he became more conspicuously ferocious. But fortunately it was Don Custodio who had made the diagnosis, and he, fearful of attracting attention to himself, pretended to hear nothing, apparently busy with his criticism of the play.

"If it weren't that I am with you," remarked Juanito, rolling his eyes like some dolls that are moved by clockwork, and to make the resemblance more real he stuck out his tongue occasionally.

Thus that night he acquired in Dona Victorina's eyes the reputation of being brave and punctilious, so she decided in her heart that she would marry him just as soon as Don Tiburcio was out of the way. Paulita became sadder and sadder in thinking about how the girls called _cochers_ could occupy Isagani's attention, for the name had certain disagreeable a.s.sociations that came from the slang of her convent school-days.

At length the first act was concluded, the marquis taking away as servants Serpolette and Germaine, the representative of timid beauty in the troupe, and for coachman the stupid Grenicheux. A burst of applause brought them out again holding hands, those who five seconds before had been tormenting one another and were about to come to blows, bowing and smiling here and there to the gallant Manila public and exchanging knowing looks with various spectators.

While there prevailed the pa.s.sing tumult occasioned by those who crowded one another to get into the greenroom and felicitate the actresses and by those who were going to make calls on the ladies in the boxes, some expressed their opinions of the play and the players.

"Undoubtedly, Serpolette is the best," said one with a knowing air.

"I prefer Germaine, she's an ideal blonde."

"But she hasn't any voice."

"What do I care about the voice?"

"Well, for shape, the tall one."