"Diable!" exclaimed Bocage, "is the agreement signed, then?"
"No; but I have your letter of yesterday's date, which is as good as a contract, and I will await your reply at Dorval's house."
Bocage alone could divulge what passed between himself and Crosnier. I fancy there was some friction between them. However, half to three-quarters of an hour later, he arrived at Dorval's house with the thousand-franc note. But Crosnier deferred the play for three or four months: he did not wish to risk his winter's successes with a work he considered so uncertain of pleasing the public.
"Never mind, certain or not, that will not prevent its making money, my good dog, I will answer for that!" said Dorval.
So that is the story of Antony, of its withdrawal from the Théâtre-Français and its appearance at the théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, with your humble servant as its father, and Bocage and Dorval as its godfather and godmother.
[APPENDIX]
NOTE A
Comme nous nous y étions attendu en heurtant aussi carrément que nous le faisons les hommes et les choses, une réclamation s'est produite, respectable par le sentiment qui l'a dictée; elle est du fils de M. de Liniers.