Page:Rachel (1887 Nina H. Kennard).djvu/182

 says in the first scene, when she looks at herself decked out in her rival's jewels. After the representation of the Moineau de Lesbie, the public was obliged to confess that Rachel was not only a great actress but a graceful and beautiful woman. She knew this, and always loved le petit Moineau. The plot was of the slightest. Catullus, the Latin poet, about to be married, intended renouncing all the joys of his youth, including the beautiful Lesbia, who till now had reigned absolute mistress of his heart. He invited the friends of his bachelorhood to a banquet to celebrate his change of state. While they were taunting him with the liberty he was giving up, a message came from Sexta, the bride-elect. She had dreamed a dream of ill omen, and wanted to see her betrothed, to receive the assurance from his lips that it was of no significance. He obeyed the summons, as in duty bound, and during his absence Lesbia, unconscious as yet of her lover's disloyalty, entered. She was dressed in a soft clinging drapery, held at the waist by a gold belt; a myrtle crown encircled her small Greek head, while her dark brown hair fell in long coils down her back. In the midst of the story she related of the death of the bird, pet and plaything of their happier days, her lover returned, and she recalled to his memory how, in the calends of the April of the year before, they had found it fallen out of its nest:—

Catullus, as he saw his mistress's tears and listened to her tale, forgot all but his former love, and, taking