I must ask my readers to forgive me for being obliged sometimes to use theatrical slang; it expresses things often much better than ordinary language does.
Well, it also seemed to me that my accessoire's face was familiar to me; and he, on his side, without being too forward, seemed to smile at me as much as to say, "It is not only at the theatre I have seen you." Now where had he seen me? Where had I seen him? This I wanted to find out. I had asked his name; it was Charlet, the same name as our famous lithographer. The name awoke no recollection in my mind. One day, however, right in the midst of a movement of the Old Guard, I stopped in front of him.
"Excuse me, Monsieur Charlet," I said to him, "it seems to me I have seen you somewhere.... Where, I cannot tell; but I will bet my hat you are not a stranger to me. Can you assist my memory?"
"Quite true, monsieur," he answered; "we have seen each other three times before, as one does catch sight of people at special times: once in the rue Saint-Honoré, once on the Pont de la Grève and once at the Louvre."
"Oh yes, I remember ... on the Pont de la Grève you commanded the attack when the standard-bearer was killed?"
"That was it," he replied.
"You are an actor?"
"Well, as you see, I am trying to become one."
"Why did you wait until I spoke to you?"
"I am timid."