Soon she forgot herself, entered
into the spirit of the thing, and exerted every sense to please, so
successfully that Mr. Tripp praised her quickness at comprehension,
Lucy applauded heartily from a fairy car, and Mr. Sharp popped his
head out of a palace window to watch the Amazon's descent from the
Mountains of the Moon.
When the regular company arrived, the troop was dismissed till the
progress of the play demanded their reappearance. Much interested in
the piece, Christie stood aside under a palm-tree, the foliage of
which was strongly suggestive of a dilapidated green umbrella,
enjoying the novel sights and sounds about her.
Yellow-faced gentlemen and sleepy-eyed ladies roamed languidly about
with much incoherent jabbering of parts, and frequent explosions of
laughter. Princes, with varnished boots and suppressed cigars,
fought, bled, and died, without a change of countenance. Damsels of
unparalleled beauty, according to the text, gaped in the faces of
adoring lovers, and crocheted serenely on the brink of annihilation.
Fairies, in rubber-boots and woollen head-gear, disported themselves
on flowery barks of canvas, or were suspended aloft with hooks in
their backs like young Hindoo devotees.
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