diately, madame! . . . enter!" he cried
all perspired and flushed, and ran on again, gathered from the
dressing-rooms those who were needed on the stage, and at the
appropriate moment whispered: "Enter!"

Janina saw how the actors suddenly interrupted their conversations,
left each other in the midst of some sentence, stood down half-empty
glasses, and rushed for the entrances, waiting for their turn,
immovable and silent or nervously whispering the words of their
roles, and entering into their characters; she saw the quivering of
lips and eyelids, the trembling of legs, the sudden paleness beneath
the layer of paint, and the feverish glances of stage fright . . .

"Enter!" sounded a voice like the crack of a whip.

Almost everyone started violently, hastily assumed the required
facial expression, crossed himself a few times and went on.

Each time the stage door opened a thrill went through Janina at that
wave of strange fire, that streamed toward her from the public.

She began again to lose herself in the play. That mysterious gloom,
those garish hues and forms, emerging from the shadows and suddenly
flooded with light, the strains of invisible music, the echo of
singing, the sound of subdued footfalls and strange whispers in the
darkness, the feverish rapture of the public, the glowing eyes, the
excitement, the thundering applause, like a far-away storm, streams
of dazzling light alternating with darkness, the throng of people,
the pathetic ring of words, tragic cries, heart-rending sobs, moans,
weeping, a whole melodrama, pompously and noisily acted all this
filled Janina with a fervor different from the one she had felt in
the first act, the fervor of energy and action. She went through the
playing with all the actors, suffered together with those paper
heroes and heroines, feared with them and loved with them; she felt
their nervousness before entering the stage, trembled with emotion
in the pathetic moments of the play, while certain words and cries
sent so strange and painful a tremor through her that they brought
the tears to her eyes and a faint cry to her lips.

An increasing number of people from the audience began to come
behind the scenes. Boxes of candy, bouquets, and single flowers
circulated freely from hand to hand. Beer, whisky, and cognac were
drunk and cakes were snatched from a huge tray. Gusts of laughter
broke out here and there, jokes exploded like fireworks in the air.
Some of the choru