Notre Dame de Paris - Bartleby.com

“He has a splendid beard,” said Liénarde.
“Will it be very fine what they are going to say?” asked Gisquette shyly.
“Extremely fine, mademoiselle,” responded the unknown without the slightest hesitation.
“What is it to be?” asked Liénarde.
“‘The Good Judgment of Madame the Virgin,’ a Morality, an it please you, mademoiselle.”
“Ah! that’s different,” rejoined Liénarde.
A short silence ensued. It was broken by the young man.
“It is an entirely new Morality,” said he, “and has never been used before.”
“Then it is not the same as they gave two years ago on the day of the entry of Monsieur the Legate, in
which there were three beautiful girls to represent certain personages——”
“Sirens,” said Liénarde.
“And quite naked,” added the young man.
Liénarde modestly cast down her eyes. Gisquette glanced at her and then followed her example.
“It was a very pleasant sight,” continued the young man, unabashed. “But the Morality to-day was
composed expressly for Madame the Lady of Flanders.”
“Will they sing any bergerettes?” asked Gisquette.
“Fie!” exclaimed the unknown; “love-songs in a Morality? The different sorts of plays must not be
confounded. Now, if it were sotie, 17 well and good——”
“What a pity!” returned Gisquette. “That day at the Ponceau fountain there were wild men and women
who fought with one another and formed themselves into different groups, singing little airs and
love-songs.”
“What is suitable for a legate,” remarked the unknown dryly, “would not be seemly for a princess.”
“And close by,” Liénarde went on, “a number of deep-toned instruments played some wonderful
melodies.”
“And for the refreshment of the passer-by,” added Gisquette, “the fountains spouted wine and milk and
hypocras from three mouths, and every one drank that would.”
“And a little below the Ponceau fountain at the Trinité,” continued Liénarde, “there was a Passion Play
acted without words.”
“Yes, so there was!” cried Gisquette. “Our Lord on the cross and the two thieves to right and left of
him.”
Here the two friends, warming to the recollection of the legate’s entry, both began talking at once. “And
farther on, at the Porte-aux-Peintres were other persons very richly dressed”