"It did not pay its expenses.... Ah! my friend, what a capital time for launching a drama!"
"Do you think so?"
"There will be a reaction in favour of the theatres; besides, you saw what I put in the newspapers?"
"Yes, about the places of entertainment not having had a single case of cholera in them.... My dear Harel, you are the cleverest man of the nineteenth century!"
"Oh! not so!"
"Why not?"
"You can well see why not, since I cannot get you to write me a play."
"In all conscience, am I in a fit state for doing it?"
"You?..."
He shrugged his shoulders.