eatest enthusiasm that he looked forward to the appearance of "Les
Ressources de Quinola," which had been accepted by the Odeon, and on
which he founded the most extravagant hopes. The long night of trouble
was nearly over, and a late happiness would dawn upon him, heralded by
a brilliant success at the theatre, which would not only free him from
debt, but would also enable him to offer riches to the woman he loved.

At the first hearing of this play in the green-room of the Odeon, the
company had been rather disenchanted as we know, because, after
reading four acts admirably, Balzac was forced to improvise the
unwritten fifth, and this he did so badly that Madame Dorval, the
principal actress, refused to act. However, on the same day Lireux,
the director of the Odeon, came to the Restaurant Risbeck, where
Balzac was dining with Leon Gozlan, and said that he would accept the
play. Balzac at once insisted that for the first three representations
he must have command of the whole of the theatre, but he promised that
Lireux should share the receipts with him, and these he said would be
enormous. He also stipulated that for his three special performances
no journalists should be admitted, there being war to the knife
between him and them. As the place of Balzac's abode was being kept
strictly secret for fear of his creditors, the time of the rehearsal
each day was to be communicated to him by a messenger from the
theatre, who was told to walk in the Champs Elysees, towards the Arc
de l'Etoile. At the twentieth tree on the left, past the Circle, he
would find a man who would appear to be looking for a bird in the
branches. The messenger was to say to him, "I have it," and the man
would answer, "As you have it, what are you waiting for?" On receiving
this reply the emissary from the Odeon would hand over the paper, and
depart without looking behind him. The only comment that Lireux, who
appears to have been a practical man, made on these curious
arrangements was, that if the twentieth tree had been struck by
lightning during the night, he supposed that the servant must stop at
the twenty-first, and Balzac assented gravely to this proposition.

The great writer worked with his usual energy at the rehearsals,
continually rewriting parts of the play, and besides this occupation
spending hours in the theatre bureau, as he had determined to sell all
the tickets himself. For the first night of "Les Ressources de
Quinola" the audie