"Ah! that is because you are not one of the frequenters of the château."
"There are people who lay great stress on being intimates of a château! You understand?"
"When he took me by my coat button," continued M. Fulchiron, "the king said to me, 'My dear Fulchiron, in spite of the beauties it contains, do not have your tragedy played.' 'But why not?' 'How can one make a man a minister who has written a tragedy?' 'Sire, the Emperor Napoléon said, "If Corneille had lived in my day, I should have made him a prince!" 'I am not the Emperor Napoléon, and you are not Corneille.' 'Nevertheless, sire, when one has had a tragedy calling from the deeps for the last thirty years ...' 'You shall read it to me, M. Fulchiron ...' 'Ah! sire, your Majesty's desires are commands. When would your Majesty like me to read Pizarre?' Some day ... when all these devils of Republicans leave me a bit of respite!'"
The Republicans never left Louis-Philippe, who, you will agree, was an intelligent man, any respite. That is why M. Fulchiron hated Republicans so much. What! was that the reason? Yes! You thought that M. Fulchiron hated Republicans because they tended to usurp power, to disturb order, to put, as Danton expressed it in his curt description of the Republic, à mettre dessus ce qui est dessous? You are mistaken; M. Fulchiron hated Republicans because by means of all their riots—their 5 June, 14 April, etc. etc. etc.—upon my word, I forget all the dates!—they prevented him from reading his play to Louis-Philippe. So, on 24 February 1848, however devoted he seemed to be to the established government, M. Fulchiron allowed Louis-Philippe to fall.
See on what slender threads hang great events! If Louis-Philippe had heard the reading of Pizarre, M. Fulchiron would have supported the Government of July, and perhaps Louis-Philippe might still be on the throne. So, after the fall of Louis-Philippe, M. Fulchiron was as happy as the Prince of Monaco when they took away his principality from him.
"My political career is a failure," says M. Fulchiron, "and you see me once more a literary man! I shall not be a minister, but I will be an academician."
"Indeed!" say you; "then why is not M. Fulchiron an academician?"
"Because Pizarre has not been played."
"Good! Was not M. Dupaty received into the Academy on condition that his tragedy Isabelle should not be played?"
"Oh! really?"