ladies' fans fluttered with abnormal
rapidity. All appeared to be inhaling air of exceptional
stimulating power. Every one breathed more freely. The eyes of
some became unwontedly bright, and seemed to give forth a light
equal to that of the candles, which themselves certainly threw a
more brilliant light over the hall. It was evident that people
saw more clearly, though the number of candles had not been
increased. Ah, if Doctor Ox's experiment were being tried! But it
was not being tried, as yet.

The musicians of the orchestra at last took their places. The
first violin had gone to the stand to give a modest la to his
colleagues. The stringed instruments, the wind instruments, the
drums and cymbals, were in accord. The conductor only waited the
sound of the bell to beat the first bar.

The bell sounds. The fourth act begins. The _allegro
appassionato_ of the inter-act is played as usual, with a
majestic deliberation which would have made Meyerbeer frantic,
and all the majesty of which was appreciated by the Quiquendonian
_dilettanti_.

But soon the leader perceived that he was no longer master of his
musicians. He found it difficult to restrain them, though usually
so obedient and calm. The wind instruments betrayed a tendency to
hasten the movements, and it was necessary to hold them back with
a firm hand, for they would otherwise outstrip the stringed
instruments; which, from a musical point of view, would have been
disastrous. The bassoon himself, the son of Josse Lietrinck the
apothecary, a well-bred young man, seemed to lose his self-control.

Meanwhile Valentine has begun her recitative, "I am alone," &c.;
but she hurries it.

The leader and all his musicians, perhaps unconsciously, follow
her in her _cantabile_, which should be taken deliberately, like
a 12/8 as it is. When Raoul appears at the door at the bottom of
the stage, between the moment when Valentine goes to him and that
when she conceals herself in the chamber at the side, a quarter
of an hour does not elapse; while formerly, according to the
traditions of the Quiquendone theatre, this recitative of
thirty-seven bars was wont to last just thirty-seven minutes.

Saint Bris, Nevers, Cavannes, and the Catholic nobles have
appeared, somewhat prematurely, perhaps, upon the scene. The
composer has marked _allergo pomposo_ on the score. The orchestra
and the lords proceed _allegro_ indeed, but not at all _pomposo_,
and at the chorus, in the famou