al tenor, and began to
construct a Hardfeldt. One of my dearest friends is a Zliricher, and I
felt certain of his accent. That was a point gained, for the rascally
Baron might as well have come from Zurich as from anywhere else in the
world. I recalled, with no twinge of inward apology, every tone of my
old friend's voice, every trick of facial expression, and every little
touch of Swiss gesture which helps his breezy and warm-hearted talk. I
determined to dower Sir Charles Young's admirable scoundrel with all my
dear old J---- G----'s tricks and manners; and I was the less
remorseful in copying his cheerful and childlike _bonhomie_ because our
recalcitrant had been in the habit of giving the Baron away at his very
entrance, and had stamped him from the first as a ruffian of the deepest
dye, whereas I was disposed to think that a really successful adventurer
would be likely to have an honest and engaging manner.

At midnight I began to study; and at three o'clock in the morning I went
away to bed, carrying with me the words and business of the part and a
pretty bad headache. We rehearsed at eleven; and I was 'letter-perfect,'
as actors say, and was always to be found on the very nail of the stage
on which I was wanted. I have always boasted a verbal memory like a
steel rat-trap. It never lets anything go upon which it once seizes.
So far excellent. 'But Linden saw another sight' at night-time. I knew
platform fright as well as anybody. I have thrice been physically sick
before addressing a strange audience, though I have been hardened by
nearly a quarter of a century of practice. John Bright once said in
my hearing that he never arose to speak in public without a feeling of
insecurity at the knees and 'the sense of a scientific vacuum behind
the waistcoat.' But this first appearance on the boards took me beyond
anything I had hitherto experienced. I recalled the phrase about
the 'scientific vacuum' which had fallen from the lips of England's
greatest orator, and tried to console myself with the hope that I might
not play so very vilely in spite of the fact that I had forgotten every
line and word. I was bathed in a coward sweat whilst I stood near the
central doors of the stage-chamber into which I was shortly to walk
like a sheep to the slaughter. The cue came, and I entered mechanically
crushing an opera-hat against my shirt-front. I know that if the
audience could have seen the face below the grease-paint and the powd