into private
boxes, and all the timber work had been covered with coloured paper. A
little iron chandelier hung beneath the ceiling, and that it might be
made to disappear into the ceiling, as it does in great theatres, when
the _ting-ting_ of the prompter's bell is heard, a great inverted tub
had been placed just above it.

"'_Ting-ting!_' and the little iron chandelier suddenly rose at least
half a yard and disappeared in the tub; and that was the sign that the
play was going to begin. A young nobleman and his lady, who happened
to be passing through the little town, were present at the
performance, and consequently the house was crowded. But under the
chandelier was a vacant space like a little crater: not a single soul
sat there, for the tallow was dropping, drip, drip! I saw everything,
for it was so warm in there that every loophole had been opened. The
male and female servants stood outside, peeping through the chinks,
although a real policeman was inside, threatening them with a stick.
Close by the orchestra could be seen the noble young couple in two old
arm-chairs, which were usually occupied by his worship the mayor and
his lady; but these latter were to-day obliged to content themselves
with wooden forms, just as if they had been ordinary citizens; and the
lady observed quietly to herself, 'One sees, now, that there is rank
above rank;' and this incident gave an air of extra festivity to the
whole proceedings. The chandelier gave little leaps, the crowd got
their knuckles rapped, and I, the Moon, was present at the performance
from beginning to end."

[Illustration: THE PLAY IN A STABLE.]

FIFTH EVENING.

"Yesterday," began the Moon, "I looked down upon the turmoil of Paris.
My eye penetrated into an apartment of the Louvre. An old grandmother,
poorly clad--she belonged to the working class--was following one of
the under-servants into the great empty throne-room, for this was the
apartment she wanted to see--that she was resolved to see; it had cost
her many a little sacrifice, and many a coaxing word, to penetrate
thus far. She folded her thin hands, and looked round with an air of
reverence, as if she had been in a church.

"'Here it was!' she said, 'here!' And she approached the throne, from
which hung the rich velvet fringed with gold lace. 'There,' she
exclaimed, 'there!' and she knelt and kissed the purple carpet. I
think she was actually weeping.

"'But it was not _this very_ velvet!' obse