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A RARE OM> t,ADY. 267
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
_ — Amon G The Curious And Unexpected Th...
down this wall . "We must have two drawing-rooms , one of which shall be decorated and furnished in the purest Roman style . "
" But we have only one drawing-room / ' expostulated Madame Talma .
" Your bed-room can be turned into a second , chere amie ; It is quite large enough . Besides , we will knock down the wall at the
farther end of your room , and take in the corridor outside , which will give us ample space for the second drawing-room . Let me
alone ; I'll contrive it ! But mind you don't persist in worrying me with your narrow calculations of expenseor I shall be really
, angry . And now let us set to work at once ; we have not an hour to spare !"
The work of demolition was commenced forthwith , and in a couple of days the whole place was in utter confusionevery corner
, of the apartment being upside down with mortar and workmen . By carrying on the business of re-construction incessantly , day and
night , and promising handsome largesses to the ouvriers , it was just possible that the re-modelling of the rooms occupied hy the great
artist might be completed in a couple of months from that time . But Kemble did not wait so long ; at the end of a week he made
Ms appearance , and nothing could be done but to replace , with all possible hastethe woodwork that had been removed from the
, parlor , and to _sweep out the mortar and shavings from the dining-room . The most celebrated authors and actors of the day
were invited to the dinner thus hastily improvised in the midst of the demolitions ; nox does the entertainment appear to have been
the less brilliant and delightful for having heen given amidst surroundings so different from those in which Talma ' s gorgeous
imagination had pictured himself as receiving the guest whom he was so anxious to honor .
But all the domestic difficulties of this artistic couple unfortunately did not terminate as well as this one . Talma ' s wasteful
expenditure was such that it not only absorbed the large income resulting from their joint efforts , but created a constantly increasing
mass of debts that Madame Talma could not contemplate without dismay . Talma was not onlyas we knowa man of a large ,
artistic , generous nature , impelling , him both , to create all manner of beautiful harmonious surroundings for himself , and to shower
benefits with an equally lavish hand on all around him , but was , moreoverso utterly improvidentso incapable of making . any
calculation , of the value of money , and , of the relation between expenditure and income , that his pecuniary affairs necessarily fell into hopeless
confusion . But to all considerations of _prudence and economy he was utterly indifferentand seemedindeedincapable of
understanding them . One day , , Madame Talm , a , after , setting forth to him with all earnestness the enormity of his financial delinquencies ,
wound up her homily by remarking " You reproach me with being careful and anxious about money matters , but suppose that my ex-
vox . iv . v 2
A Rare Om> T,Ady. 267
A RARE OM > t , ADY . 267
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Dec. 1, 1859, page 267, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01121859/page/51/
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