It was I who described the scene to Brian: the eighteenth-century
perfection of the buildings, each one harmoniously proportioned to suit
the others; the town hall, with its wonderful clock; the palace; the
theatre, and the rest of the happy architectural family reared by Duke
Stanislas; each with its roof-decoration of carved stone vases, and
graceful statues miraculously missed so far by German bombs; the
lace-like filigree of wrought iron and gold on flag-hung balconies or
gates; the gilded Arch of Triumph leading into the garden of the Place
Carriere--a gorgeous glitter of decoration which won for Nancy her
_alias_, "City of Golden Doors," and now has to be "camouflaged" for
enemy aeroplanes. It was I who made the list of stage properties, but it
was Brian who filled the stage with actors and actresses, in their
proper parts.
He called upon the bronze statue of Stanislas to come down from its high
pedestal, and appear before us in flesh, happy to be Duke of Lorraine,
after all the dethronings and abdications in Poland; a most
respectable-looking monarch despite his adventures and disguises of the
past. We saw him in a powdered perruque, on his way to the ducal palace,
after some religious ceremony that had attracted crowds of loyal
Catholic Lorrainers: beside him, his good wife of bourgeoise soul but
romantic name, Catherine Opalinska, a comfortable woman, too large for
the fashionable _robe a paniers_; with the pair, their daughter Marie,
proud of the fate foretold by a fortune-teller, that she should be queen
of France; the Royal family, and the aristocrats of their northern
court; the smart Polish officers in uniform; the pretty, coquettish
women, and dark-faced musicians of Hungary; the Swedish philosophers,
the long-haired Italian artists; and above all, the beautiful Marquise
de Boufflers--rival of the Queen--with her little dogs and black pages;
all these "belonged" to the sunlit picture, where our modern figures
seemed out of place and time.
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