"Yes."
"Read it, then!"
Delanoue began to read his three acts. I followed the play with the greatest attention. I found, whilst he was in the act of reading, a pivot of interest on which the play could advantageously turn, and which he had passed over unnoticed.
"Well?" said he when he had finished.
"They were right: it is too long by a third."
"Then it must be cut down."
"No, on the contrary."
"What do you mean by that?"
"You must turn the play into five acts."
"But when they already think it too long by a third?"