"Oh, you, Morville, are always an optimist; but, in fact, the progress of the plot is very much involved."
"You did not listen to it."
"Oh, parbleu! if it requires constrained attention in order to comprehend it, that is really a labour."
"And, you know, one does not come to the theatre to have oneself bored to find out all the developments of a plot."
"If it be intricate, that is the author's affair, and I really cannot for his pleasure and gratification refrain from a little quiet chat with a neighbour."
"True; the triumph of art is to make oneself understood without being listened to."
"Devil take you, Morville, you are quite fanatic about Gercourt."
CHAPTER XVII
[BETWEEN THE ACTS.—BOX NUMBER VII]
This box, as we have said already, was occupied by M. de Brévannes and his wife.