it down his throat!" As he
said these words, he brought his fist down upon the table, and made the
glasses and candles dance 'upon it.

"Conspiracy or not, this time they judged the play aright. I believe it
would be impossible to imagine two worse plays; but, as Brid Oison
says, 'These are things that one admits only to himself'; it is always
disagreeable to be informed of one's stupidity by an ignorant audience
that shouts after you like a pack of hounds after a hare. In spite of my
pretension of being the least susceptible regarding an author's
vanity of all the writers in Paris, it is perfectly impossible to be
indifferent to such a thing--a hiss is a hiss. However, vanity aside,
there was a question of money which, as I have a bad habit of spending
regularly my capital as well as my income, was not without its
importance. It meant, according to my calculation, some sixty
thousand francs cut off from my resources, and my trip to the East was
indefinitely postponed.

"They say, with truth, that misfortunes never come singly. You know
Melanie, whom I prevented from making her debut at the Vaudeville? By
taking her away from all society, lodging her in a comfortable manner
and obliging her to work, I rendered her a valuable service. She was
a good girl, and, aside from her love for the theatre and a certain
indolence that was not without charm, I did not find any fault in her
and grew more attached to her every day. Sometimes after spending long
hours with her, a fancy for a retired life and domestic happiness would
seize me. Gentlemen with brains are privileged to commit foolish acts at
times, and I really do not know what I might have ended in doing, had I
not been preserved from the danger in an unexpected manner.

"One evening, when I arrived at Melanie's, I found the bird had flown.
That great ninny of a Ferussac, whom I never had suspected, and had
introduced to her myself, had turned her head by making capital out
of her love for the stage. As he was about to leave for Belgium, he
persuaded her to go there and dethrone Mademoiselle Prevost. I have
since learned that a Brussels banker revenged me by taking this Helene
of the stage away from Ferussac. Now she is launched and can fly with
her own wings upon the great highway of bravos, flowers, guineas--"

"And wreck and ruin," added Marillac. "Here's to her health!"

"This triple disappointment of pride, money, and heart did not cause, I
hope you will believ