THE TAMBY FAMILY IN PUBLIC.
Having thus prepared the way very skillfully, Madame Pradère, radiant
at the prosperous progress of her enterprise, now revealed her purpose.
"I am very anxious," she said with a charming glance over all her
attentive listeners, "to be present at the performance this evening,
and I make bold, gentlemen, to beg of you to be present also. In that
way all chance of anything amiss occurring will be avoided."
"But you do not forget, Madame," put in the Colonel, "that our being
present will mean the absence of the soldiers, who could not sit with
us without a breach of discipline."
"Oh! that will be all right, I promise you, Colonel," responded Madame
archly. "There'll be no interference with discipline. The soldiers will
be placed at the back, and in the front there will be seats reserved
for the officers and ourselves."
Madame Pradère showed a spirit of irresistible pleasantry through it
all. She was evidently delighted at having gained the cause of little
Nadine, who was so anxiously awaiting the result in the adjoining room.
"And now, gentlemen," concluded Madame, "will you permit me to present
to you the chief of my troupe, who is just here, and whom I don't want
to keep waiting any longer?"
"By all means, Madame," responded the officers. "It will give us much
pleasure."
The servant, Françoise, was accordingly directed to bring in Nadine.
"Madame is carried away by these mountebanks," growled Françoise as she
went back to the kitchen after doing as she had been bid. "It's enough
for these strolling players to have children to get her interest ever
since she lost her own."
Nadine, blushing and bewildered, stood in the door of the dining-room
where Françoise had left her. The brilliant company of officers, the
sumptuous table decorated with plants and flowers, and laden with
dainties such as she had never in her life tasted, and the whole
richness of the room, took her breath away, so to speak, and she could
not lift her eyes from the floor.
"Don't be dismayed, my child!" said Madame kindly, quite understanding
the cause of Nadine's confusion. "Come forward, and give your papers to
the Mayor, whom you see there."
Nadine shyly glided up to his worship, and handed him the papers which
she took with great care out of the old battered portfolio.
"Do you mean to say that this is the chief of your troupe, Madame?"
asked the Colonel in a tone that betrayed surprise and skepticism.
"Yes, Colonel Laurier," Madame replied with a smile of amusement. "That
child is the eldest of four, having two brothers and a sister to whom
she has been a little mother for the last six months, since they became
orphans through the death of their father. She has to attend to all
matters of business besides caring for the little ones that are really
dependent upon her."
"She is certainly very pretty," murmured one of the captains as he
twirled his mustache. Even if his gracious hostess had not already
bespoken his presence he would certainly have attended the performance
in the evening, for Nadine was worth a second look.
"Madame," remarked the Colonel with a gesture that implied he was
entirely convinced, "your protégés are decidedly interesting, and we
shall assuredly be delighted to accompany you to the performance this
evening which I am sure will be most entertaining."
Meanwhile the Mayor had been quickly glancing over the papers which
Nadine had handed him.
"These are all in order," he said with an important air, "I shall grant
the required permission if you will be good enough, Colonel, to give
orders to your men to make room for these people."
"That will be done at once," responded Colonel Laurier, and so, thanks
to the intervention of the kind lady of the house, the whole matter was
satisfactorily arranged.
By this time Nadine had completely regained her spirits, and, before
taking her leave, she said in a voice that was made all the sweeter by
the deep feeling which its trembling betrayed while she bent low in a
graceful courtesy:
"On behalf of my little sister and brothers, I thank you, gentlemen,
from the bottom of my heart, and as for myself, I am your most dutiful
servant."
Formal as the words sounded they were manifestly sincere, but even more
heartfelt were those she added, when, turning toward Madame Pradère,
she exclaimed, as she fixed her fine eyes upon the gracious lady:
"You have been so kind to me, Madame, I cannot express my thanks," and
then she glided from the room.
The moment she reached the street she set off at the top of her speed
to rejoin the other children. She knew how impatiently they would
be awaiting her return, particularly as the question of food for
themselves and their animals hung upon her success.
Cæsar was the first to catch sight of her, and one glimpse of her
radiant countenance was enough to tell him that all was well.
"You have obtained the permission, haven't you, Nadine?" he cried, so
soon as she came within hearing.
"Yes, Cæsar," she panted joyfully. "It's all right, and we can give a
performance this evening, when we must do our very best, for we are
going to have some important people present;" and the other two having
joined them she proceeded to tell them all about her good fortune at
the Mayor's house, and the kindness of Madame Pradère.
They listened with sparkling eyes and many exclamations of wonder and
delight. Nadine certainly had a keenly interested and appreciative
audience.
"And now, Cæsar," she concluded, "you must go to the market and buy
some nice fresh hay for Nalla and Steady."
"But that will take our last cent, and what about our own food?"
protested Cæsar, who had the sharp appetite of a growing boy.
"Oh! we'll just have to wait," replied Nadine decisively. "But Nalla
and Steady must be attended to."
As she spoke Nalla moved towards his young mistress, and caressed her
with his pliant trunk, making at the same time a curious deep sound
that somewhat resembled the purring of a giant cat.
"Yes--you old dear--you shan't go hungry even if we have to for a
little while. You're our good faithful breadwinner, aren't you?" and
she patted the thick soft trunk with her pretty hand.
Cæsar grumbled a little, but did as he was bid. Nadine's rule was as
firm as it was gentle, and, however the others might at times object,
she rarely failed to have her own way in the end.
So the elephant and the horse were soon enjoying a hearty meal of
succulent hay to which they did full justice.
A little later the whole party arrived at the market-place where they
found a place made ready for them by the orders of Colonel Laurier, who
had not forgotten his promise.
Here Nadine found the gendarme who had been so civil to her in the
morning.
"Young girl," said he courteously, "I am to show you the place where
you can give your performance, and also to give you Madame Pradère's
instructions. So first of all tell me how you are accustomed to set up
your outfit."
"Oh, that is a very simple affair," responded Nadine with an apologetic
smile. "We have, you see, our stage," and she pointed to a few planks
and trestles which were hung at the sides and underneath the van. "But
we have to hire some planks to serve as seats, and these we arrange in
a sort of half-circle leaving plenty of room in the center for Nalla to
go through his performance."
"So, so!" said the gendarme, shaking his head sagely; "that would be
well enough for other occasions, but this time you will not hire any
planks. There will have to be better arrangements made, for you are
going to be honored with a very brilliant audience," and he pursed up
his mouth in a most impressive way, "for whom mere planks would never
do at all, and so for the front rows there must be chairs, and very
good chairs too!"
"But, sir!" cried Nadine, appalled at the idea of the expense involved
in providing such accommodation, "we can't do that! We have no money to
pay for chairs!"
"Don't you worry about that, little one," returned the kindly gendarme,
placing his hand upon her shoulder in a fatherly way. "Leave it all to
me. I have my orders from Madame Pradère, and shall see that everything
is done just as she wishes. Unharness your horse, set up your stage,
and let me attend to the rest."
Nadine was puzzled, but the fact that Madame Pradère had instructed the
old gendarme calmed her doubts, and she said blithely:
"Very well, sir, I'll do just as you say."
Cæsar accordingly unharnessed Steady, and then, aided by Nadine,
proceeded to take from the van the materials for the stage.
This was always a hard bit of work for their weak arms, but it was
particularly hard on the days when they had not had any breakfast.
Nevertheless they would go bravely to work with the help of the
intelligent elephant, who would lift and carry the heavier planks in
his powerful trunk.
To-day, however, they had no lack of helpers, for, no sooner did the
soldiers see what they were about, than they hastened to offer their
assistance, and in a jiffy the stage was set up instead of taking many
weary minutes.
Just as it was finished a servant-maid carrying a large basket came up.
"Madame Pradère sent this to you," she said, smiling, "she thought you
might like something to eat," and she proceeded to produce from the
basket a liberal supply of tempting food which she placed upon the
stage.
"Truly your mistress is our good angel to-day!" cried Nadine, the tears
of joy and gratitude brimming her eyes. "I shall not fail to present to
her our thanks before we go away from here."
This was indeed one of the happiest moments of their lives. They forgot
they had a single care as they breakfasted heartily upon the tender
chicken, the snow-white bread with plenty of brown crust, the golden
butter, and the rich milk which their benefactor had provided so
thoughtfully. They had never before enjoyed so delicious a repast, and
Nadine's natural refinement made her appreciate it all the more because
of the elegance of its appointments, for the dishes, the napery, the
knives and forks were from Madame's own table.
"May the good God bless her a thousand times and more!" she fervently
exclaimed when at last even Cæsar's vigorous appetite was appeased.
"What a treat she has given us all! Come now, let us put the things
neatly back in the basket. I believe there is enough still left for us
to have for dinner."
At three o'clock in the afternoon the Tamby family with the exception
of Nadine, who remained in charge of their property, after the manner
of performers of their kind, started out to parade the streets so as
to let the people know of their presence and the entertainment they
proposed to give.
For this purpose a very shabby howdah was with no little difficulty, on
account of its weight, fixed upon the patient Nalla's back. In this,
little Lydia, with Abel and Cæsar, took their places, trying to look as
important as possible.
Cæsar had a drum which he beat at intervals, and whenever there was
anybody to listen to him he would call out the place and time of the
approaching performance. He always enjoyed this part of the business.
He liked being before the public, and to be perched high up on the
elephant's back, and attracting so much attention was quite according
to his taste.
As for Vigilant, he too had his part to play. He balanced himself
cleverly upon Nalla's broad neck just in front of the howdah and
supported Cæsar's drumming by volleys of shrill barking which most
clearly meant:
"Here we are! Listen to us! Come and patronize our entertainment! We're
well worth seeing I can tell you!"