"Simpleton!" replied the annoyed Delrieu.
"That is exactly the light in which I view it myself," responded Perpignan, in the most gracious manner imaginable.
When Artaxercès was again put on the stage, at the time when we saw it, and after Delrieu had clamoured for its revival for twenty years, the play, notwithstanding its being cracked up by its author, was what is called in theatrical parlance a dead failure (un four complet).
A fortnight later he was met by one of his friends, who said to him—
"So you have made it up with the Comédiens français?"
"With them? Never!"
"What have they done to you now?"
"What have they done to me? Think of it, the scoundrels! ... You know my Artaxercès, a chef-d'œuvre?"
"Yes."
"Well, they played it on just those days when the house is at its emptiest!"