"Oh! I am aware that you are a highly talented lady ... but there is one point, I repeat, upon which you seem to be ignorant, to which I ought to call your attention; namely, that I also, madame, am a talented person: take this fact into consideration, I beg of you, and treat me accordingly."
"You think, then, that I shall act your part badly?"
"I know that you will play it admirably well, madame, but I also know that, from the beginning of the rehearsals, you have been extremely rude to me—conduct that is unworthy both of Mademoiselle Mars and of M. Victor Hugo."
"Oh!" she muttered, biting her pale lips, "you do indeed deserve to have your part given back to you!"
Hugo held out his hand.
"I am ready to take it, madame," he said.
"And if I do not play it, who will?"
"Oh! upon my word, madame, the first person that comes to hand.... Why, Mademoiselle Despréaux, for instance. She, of course, does not possess your talent, but she is young and she is pretty, and so will fulfil two out of the three conditions the part demands; then, too, she will yield me the deference to which I am entitled, of the lack of which, on your part, I have had to complain."
And Hugo stood with his arm stretched out and his hand open, waiting for Mademoiselle Mars to give him back the part.