The directors—for reasons Adolphe could not fathom—did not put themselves out to make that fuss over our chefs-d'œuvre he thought he had the right to expect of them. However, Adolphe did not despair of getting them a hearing. If he could not succeed in this, he would have to submit the manuscripts to the critics, which would be most humiliating! In spite of the gleams of hope which still shone through the epistle, the general tone of the letter was doleful. In conclusion, Adolphe promised to keep me well posted concerning his doings.
I awaited a second letter. The second letter was more than a month in coming. And then, alas! practically all hope had fled. The Dîner d'amis, borrowed from M. Bouilly, had not sufficient plot; the Major de Strasbourg was too much like the Soldat Laboureur, which had just been played at the Variétés with such great success.
And as for the Abencérages, every boulevard theatre had received a play on that subject for the last ten, fifteen, or twenty years.
Even supposing, therefore, that ours were received, it did not carry us far.
Still, we had not yet lost all hope in the matter of the Dîner d'amis and the Major de Strasbourg.
After vain attempts to gain access at the Gymnase and the Varietés, we tried the Porte-Saint-Martin, the Ambigue-Comique and the Gaieté.
As for the unlucky Abencérages, its fate was sealed.
I shed as bitter a tear over it as Boabdil shed over Grenada, and I awaited Adolphe's third letter with very gloomy forebodings.
Our cup of humiliation was full to the brim: we were refused everywhere. But Adolphe had several plays on the way with Théaulon, with Soulié and with Rousseau. He was going to try to get them played, and when played, he would use the influence gained by his success to demand the acceptance of one of our efforts. This was but poor comfort and uncertain expectancy. I was greatly cast down.
In the meantime an event had taken place which would have filled me with high spirits under any other circumstances. M. Deviolaine was appointed keeper of the forests of the Duc d'Orléans; he left Villers-Cotterets and went to Paris to take over the management of the forestry department. Two ways of helping me lay open to him: he could take me into his office, or he could give me open air work. Unluckily, since my affair with Madame Lebègue, the family had given me the cold shoulder. This did not discourage my mother, who saw an opening for me in one or other of these two careers, from approaching M. Deviolaine.