"
A short time afterwards, the innkeeper reappeared with a whole bundle of
admission tickets for Szilard, saying that the manager thanked him for
his sympathy, but as he was not in the habit of accepting presents from
anyone, he assumed that his honour meant to engage the whole house for
himself that evening and he, the manager, would therefore give a
representation for his honour's sole benefit.
Szilard laughed heartily at this comical conscientiousness, and after
dressing, he went about his official business with as much dispatch as
possible in order to arrive at the play at seven o'clock sharp, for he
was now the whole public and the public ought always to be punctual.
When he got to the room set apart for the performance he found that,
despite the provisional _abonnement suspendu_ arrangement, the place was
not quite empty, for the gratis public, the lenders of the theatrical
requisites and their families, the letters of lodgings to the actors and
other peaceful creditors, occupied a couple of benches, so that Szilard
had the opportunity of effacing himself and thus avoiding confusing the
_troupe_ by his solitary and imposing personality.
No sooner had the innkeeper's cuckoo clock struck seven than the ring of
the prompter's bell resounded behind the curtain (it sounded
suspiciously like a glass struck smartly with the back of a knife) and
by means of a highly ingenious piece of machinery the drop-curtain,
stuck over with the tricolored cardboard representing the national flag,
was hoisted up to the ceiling-beam, and the open stage was revealed.
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