"Gentlemen, I have had the honour to give you my address."
"Put him out! put him out!" cried the people, in strident, raucous tones.
All the people present had risen from their seats, were leaning over the gallery, and were almost half out of the boxes. I seemed to be at the end of an immense funnel with everybody gazing at me from all sides.
"Put him out! put him out!" cried those who did not even know what the commotion was about, but who calculated that one person less would mean room for one more.
I was debating what course to take, from the depths of my funnel, when a well-dressed man broke through the crowd, which deferentially opened a way for him, and he asked me to go out.
"Why am I to go out?" I asked in great surprise.
"Because you are disturbing the performance."
"What! I am disturbing the play?... The play has not begun yet."
"Well, you are disturbing the audience."
"Really, monsieur!"