Page:Anecdotes of Great Musicians.djvu/32

20 But after the opera came the climax. The crowd of students who had filled the gallery hastened to the stage entrance, cut the traces of her carriage, and tied in their places two long ropes. These were grasped by two files of shouting students. The prima donna entered her carriage and was in this way escorted down the street, the crowd continually being augmented by new arrivals. Several had supplied themselves with fireworks, and the whole thing had the effect of a triumphal procession.

When the strings of volunteer horses arrived at a corner, owing to there being no agreement concerning the route, one set turned one way, and the other in an opposite direction. The result was that the carriage containing Titiens, and her escorts came to a sudden and forcible stop against a building. But after some parley both teams agreed to unite on the same direction.

When, finally, they arrived at her hotel the enthusiastic students threw their coats on the pavement from the carriage to the doorway, over which the diva passed to her rooms. The crowd remained around the hotel for over an hour, making continual calls for a song, and their numbers were so great that the police were unable to disperse them.

Though Titiens darkened her rooms to give the impression that she had gone to bed, still they remained.

Finally a police official came up and said that unless Madame would assist in dispersing the crowd the consequences might be disastrous. So Titiens consented to try. She went to her window and motioned for silence. Then, addressing the crowd, she said:—

"I will sing you the 'Last Rose of Summer' providing you will promise to go home at once and be as quiet as mice."

Then, a second time for that evening, did she sing the old song; and, to the surprise of the people in the hotel, the mob melted away like magic, without another sound.

The police official declared that if ever a mob broke