Everybody
had rushed to the theatre to see and applaud the now famous Captain
Fracasse--the capital actor and high-spirited gentleman--who feared
neither cudgels nor swords; and had not shrunk from encountering the
dreaded Duke of Vallombreuse, the terror of all the country round, in
mortal combat, as the champion of offended beauty. Blazius, however, did
not share the tyrant's raptures, but on the contrary foreboded no good
from all this, for he feared, and not without reason, the vindictive
character of the Duke of Vallombreuse, and was apprehensive that
he would find some means of revenging himself for his defeat at de
Sigognac's hands that would be detrimental to the troupe. "Earthen
vessels," said he, "should be very careful how they get in the way of
metal ones, lest, if they rashly encounter them, they be ignominiously
smashed in the shock." But Herode, relying upon the support and
countenance of the Baron de Sigognac and the Marquis de Bruyeres,
laughed at his fears, and called him faint-heart, a coward, and a
croaker.
When the comedians returned to their hotel, after the play was over, de
Sigognac accompanied Isabelle to the door of her room, and, contrary to
her usual custom, the young actress invited him to enter it with her.
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