three highly respectable persons, of a serious turn of mind, who came to suggest doubts whether an entertainment of so frivolous a nature was not injurious to the morality of Gatesboro'. Besides these notables, there were loungers and gossips, with no particular object except that of ascertaining who Mr. Chapman was by birth and parentage, and suggesting the expediency of a deputation ostensibly for the purpose of asking him to repeat his performance, but charged with private instructions to cross-examine him as to his pedigree. The gentle Mayor kept his eyes fixed on a mighty ledger-book, pen in hand. The attitude was a rebuke on intruders, and in ordinary times would have been so considered. But mildness, however majestic, is not always effective in periods of civic commotion. The room was animated by hubbub. You caught broken sentences here and there crossing each other, like the sounds that had been frozen in the air, and set free by a thaw, according to the veracious narrative of Baron Munchausen.
Play house Proprietor. "The theatre is the—"
Serious Gentleman. "Plausible snare by which a population, at present grave and well-disposed, is decoyed into becoming—"
Excited Admirer. "A French poodle, Sir, that plays dominos like a—"
Credulous Conjecturer. "Benevolent philanthropist, condescending to act for the benefit of some distressed brother who is—""
Proprietor of City Concert Room. "One hundred and twenty feet long by forty, Mr. Mayor! Talk of that damp theatre, Sir!—you might as well talk of the—"
Suddenly the door flew open, and, pushing aside a clerk who designed to announce him, in burst Mr. Chapman himself.
He had evidently expected to find the Mayor alone, for at the sight of that throng he checked himself, and stood mute at the threshold. The levee for a moment was no less surprised, and no less mute. But the, good folks soon recovered themselves. To many it was a pleasure to accost and congratulate the man who, the night before, had occasioned to them emotions so agreeable. Cordial smiles broke out—friendly hands Were thrust forth. Brief but hearty compliments, mingled with entreaties to renew the performance to a larger audience, were showered round. The Comedian stood, hat in hand, mechanically passing his sleeve over its nap, muttering, half inaudibly, "You see before you a man"—and turning his single eye from one face to the other, as if struggling to guess what was meant,
