Now comes the apparition of another little friend who stood very high in
my childish favor. As nearly as I can remember I became acquainted with
her when I was eleven; Antoinette had left the country; Veronica was
forgotten.
Her name was Jeanne, and she was the youngest member of a naval
officer's family, that like the D-----s had been bound up in friendship
with ours for more than a century. As she was two or three years younger
than I, I had at first taken but little notice of her--probably I
thought her too babyish.
Her face was as droll as a little kitten's, and it was impossible to
tell from the pinched up features whether she would become pretty or
ugly; but she had a certain grace, and when she was eight or nine years
old her face became very sweet and charming. She was very roguish,
and as friendly as I was diffident; and as she darted about in those
childish dances we sometimes had in the evenings, and from which I
held myself aloof, she seemed to me the extreme of worldly elegance and
coquetry.
But in spite of the great intimacy between our families, it was evident
that her parents looked upon our friendship with disfavor, they probably
thought it unseemly that she had chosen a boy for her companion. This
knowledge caused me much suffering, and the impressions of my childhood
were so vivid and persistent that I did not, until many years had
passed, until I became quite a grown youth, pardon her father and mother
the humiliation they had caused me.
It therefore resulted that my desire to play with her increased greatly.
And she, knowing this, was as perverse as a princess in a fairy tale;
she laughed mercilessly at my timid ways, at my awkward manners and my
ungraceful fashion of entering the parlor; there was kept up between us
a constant interchange of playful raillery, an oral stream of inimitable
pleasantry.
When I was invited to spend the day with her the prospect gave me the
greatest joy, but the aftertaste of the visit was generally bitter, for
usually I committed some mortifying blunder in that family where I felt
myself so misunderstood. Every time I wished to have Jeanne at my house
for dinner it was necessary for my aunt Bertha, who was a person of
authority in the eyes of Jeanne's parents, to arrange the matter for me.
Upon one occasion when little Jeanne returned from Paris she related
to me the story of the “Donkey's Skin,” which she had seen acted at the
theatre in the city.
Her time so spent was not lost, for the “Donkey's Skin” was destined to
occupy a prominent place in my life during the next four or five years,
the hours that I wasted upon it were more preciously squandered than
were any others in my life.
Together we conceived the idea of mounting the piece upon the stage
of my miniature theatre. That play of the “Donkey's Skin” brought us
together very often. And little by little the project assumed gigantic
proportions; it grew as the months sped, and amused us in ever
increasing measure; indeed, in proportion to the degree of perfection
to which we were able to bring our conception did we enjoy it. We
manufactured fantastic decorations; we dressed, so that they might take
part in the processions, innumerable little dolls. It will be necessary
for me to speak often of that fairy spectacle which was one of the
important things of my childhood.
And even after Jeanne tired of it I worked over it alone, and I fairly
outdid myself by undertaking enterprises that seemed grand to me, such,
for instance, as my efforts to represent moonlight, great conflagrations
and storms. I also made marvellous palaces and gardens wonderful as
Aladdin's. All my dreams of enchanted regions, of strange tropical
luxuries, which I later found in the distant corners of the world, took
form in the little play of the “Donkey's Skin.” Leaving out the mystical
experiences at the commencement of my life, I can affirm that almost all
my fancies had their essay on that tiny stage. I was nearly fifteen when
the last decorations, unfinished ones, were laid away forever in the
cardboard box that served them for a peaceful tomb.
And since I have anticipated their future I will say in conclusion
that in later years, when Jeanne had grown into a beautiful woman, upon
numerous occasions we have planned to open the box where our little
dolls are sleeping. But we live our life so rapidly that we seem never
to find the time, nor will we, I fear, ever find it.
Later our children may,--or who can tell, perhaps our grandchildren!
Upon some future day, when we are forgotten, our unknown descendants
in ferreting to the bottom of old cupboards will be astonished to
find there numberless little creatures, nymphs, fairies and genii, all
dressed by our hands.