s_. It is
no exaggeration to say that Lemaitre _created_ this part, though this
verb is used in our day in very slipshod fashion. Robert Macaire was the
creation of Lemaitre, and not of the authors of the play. At the
rehearsals he repeatedly declared that the part was "impossible," and
that the public would never receive it as the authors had written it.
The event justified his opinion: the piece was hissed outrageously. But
it was redeemed on the second night through the audacity of Lemaitre,
who, in strolling about the streets during the day in no very pleasant
frame of mind, racked his brains for an expedient for saving the
fortunes of the theatre. Suddenly he perceived a strange creature
standing before the open-air shop of a cake-seller--an outre individual,
clad in indescribable clothing. In some former day the man's garments
had been elegant and fashionable, but they were now dropping to pieces.
Misery and debauchery could be read in every stain upon them, but the
wearer seemed not to have lost a particle of his self-esteem. Standing
proudly in a pair of boots all run down at the heel and riddled with
holes, a greasy and misshapen felt hat perched on one ear, he daintily
broke with the extreme tips of his fingers a piece from a penny cake,
carried it to his lips with the delicate air of a dandy, and ate it as
if he were an Epicurean philosopher. His collation over, he drew from
the pocket of his coat a torn rag, wiped his hands elaborately upon it,
dusted his costume airily and then resumed his leisurely promenade up
the boulevard. "I've got him!" cried Lemaitre; for here he saw the
flesh-and-blood reality of the conception of Robert Macaire which had
been running through his brain during the rehearsals of the new piece.
That evening the actor appeared on the stage with a coat, hat and boots
modeled on those of the man on the boulevard. He reproduced the manner
of this ragged fashionable, his grotesque calm, his ridiculous dignity;
and having induced his fellow-actor, Serres, to get up a like
metamorphosis for the part of Bertrand, the piece obtained a marvelous
success.

The management of the Ambigu, appreciating the service Lemaitre had
rendered the theatre, immediately raised his salary to a high figure,
and from that day, as the saying is, his fortune was made. Saturday is
the usual pay-day in French theatres, and it was one of the first
illustrations of the eccentricity of Lemaitre's character that he took