Ursus was the poet of these magical representations; he wrote the

pieces. He had a diversity of talents; he was clever at sleight of hand.

Besides the voices he imitated, he produced all sorts of unexpected

things--shocks of light and darkness; spontaneous formations of figures

or words, as he willed, on the partition; vanishing figures in

chiaroscuro; strange things, amidst which he seemed to meditate,

unmindful of the crowd who marvelled at him.

One day Gwynplaine said to him,--

Father, you look like a sorcerer!"

And Ursus replied,--

"Then I look, perhaps, like what I am."

The Green Box, built on a clear model of Ursus's, contained this

refinement of ingenuity--that between the fore and hind wheels the

central panel of the left side turned on hinges by the aid of chains and

pulleys, and could be let down at will like a drawbridge. As it dropped

it set at liberty three legs on hinges, which supported the panel when

let down, and which placed themselves straight on the ground like the

legs of a table, and supported it above the earth like a platform. This

exposed the stage, which was thus enlarged by the platform in front.

This opening looked for all the world like a "mouth of hell," in the

441

The Man Who Laughs