Sarah Bernhardt (aged 30) and her son, Maurice, on the only occasion when he acted with her.
Photo, Henri Manuel.]
“What if I am?” demanded Sarcey imperturbably. “Who has a better right?”
“Pig! Son of a pig!” cried the enraged young actor, losing all self-control at the cool cynicism of the critic. “I challenge you to a duel!”
“I do not fight with children!” replied Sarcey, and spat on the floor to signify his contempt.
Sarah had been standing in the wings, and had overheard the dispute. She now came forward.
“Francisque, take me to supper!” she said, darting an angry look at Mounet-Sully. She could never bear these open quarrels between her admirers.
The actor did not speak to her for a month, but they composed their differences later and remained lovers for almost a year, only to separate again as the result of another fit of jealousy on Mounet-Sully’s part.
For a short while they were again enemies, and then, once more deciding to make it up, remained friends throughout the remainder of Mounet-Sully’s long career. When he married—his grand-daughter recently obtained a premier prix at the Paris Conservatoire—Sarah was present at the wedding, and sent the young couple a magnificent gift.
In 1874 Sarah was taken ill, as the result of a cold, which developed into pleurisy. She was in bed for a month, and at the end of this period an examination by three doctors revealed that one of her lungs was slightly affected. She was advised to leave the theatre, and to go to Switzerland for six months.