VI.
I had not let a single day elapse before I took my seat again in the
_Theatre Francais_, to which I had free admission for an indefinite
period. The first time I arrived, the doorkeeper at the theatre merely
called the sub-officials together; they looked at me, noted my
appearance, and for the future I might take my seat wherever I liked,
when the man at the entrance had called out his _Entree_. They were
anything but particular, and in the middle of the Summer, after a visit
of a month to London, I found my seat reserved for me as before.
The first evening after my arrival, I sat, quietly enjoying
_Hernani_ (the lyric beauty of which always rejoiced my heart),
with Mounet-Sully in the leading role, Bressant as Charles V, and as
Dona Sol, Mlle. Lloyd, a minor actress, who, however, at the conclusion
of the piece, rose to the level of the poetry. The audience were so much
in sympathy with the spirit of the piece that a voice from the gallery
shouted indignantly: "_Le roi est un lache!_" Afterwards, during
the same evening, I saw, in a transport of delight, Mme. de Girardin's
charming little piece, _La Joie fait Peur_. A certain family
believe that their son, who is a young naval officer, fallen in the far
East, has been cruelly put to death. He comes back, unannounced, to his
broken-hearted mother, his despairing bride, his sister, and an old man-
servant.
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