Skip to main content

Full text of "A few memories"

See other formats


ACTING BEFORE  CHARLOTTE  CUSHMAN         39
man the next day. We accordingly awaited her in the large parlor of the hotel. Presently we heard a heavy, masculine tread, and a voice, too high for a man's, too low for a woman's, saying, " I am sorry to be late, but some of the actors were duller than usual this morning." She stood before us, her well-set figure simply clad, the short hair in her neck still in curling-pins, showing a delightful absence of vanity, for she had just come in from the street. She looked at me for a moment with the keenest interest in her kind, blue-gray eyes, then wrung my hand with unexpected warmth. " Come, come, let us lose no time," said she, in her brisk, business-like way. " Let us see what you can do. Richard ! Hamlet! Richelieu ! Schiller's Maid of Orleans! A curious selection for such a child to make. But begin, for I am pressed for time." It was trying to stand without preparation before so great a woman, but, with a determined effort to forget her, I acted scenes from " Richelieu" and "Jeanne d'Arc." When the trial was over, I stood before her in that state of flush and quiver which often follows our best efforts. Laying her hand kindly upon my shoulder, " My child," said she, " you have all the attributes that go to make a fine actress; too much force