Everyone took his seat again with
an animated look and renewed attention. La Faloise directed his first
glance in Gaga's direction, but he was dumfounded at seeing by her side
the tall fair man who but recently had been in Lucy's stage box.
"What IS that man's name?" he asked.
Fauchery failed to observe him.
"Ah yes, it's Labordette," he said at last with the same careless
movement. The scenery of the second act came as a surprise. It
represented a suburban Shrove Tuesday dance at the Boule Noire.
Masqueraders were trolling a catch, the chorus of which was accompanied
with a tapping of their heels. This 'Arryish departure, which nobody had
in the least expected, caused so much amusement that the house encored
the catch. And it was to this entertainment that the divine band, let
astray by Iris, who falsely bragged that he knew the Earth well,
were now come in order to proceed with their inquiry. They had put on
disguises so as to preserve their incognito. Jupiter came on the stage
as King Dagobert, with his breeches inside out and a huge tin crown on
his head. Phoebus appeared as the Postillion of Lonjumeau and Minerva as
a Norman nursemaid. Loud bursts of merriment greeted Mars, who wore an
outrageous uniform, suggestive of an Alpine admiral.
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