Somebody pointed out the balloon to Perrin, who was on his way to his office.
“There goes your pensionnaire!” he was told.
Perrin at first did not understand.
“Sarah Bernhardt is in that balloon!”
Perrin angrily rushed to the theatre, called together a special meeting of the committee of administration, announced the news, and said that he had decided to fine Sarah a thousand francs.
“I have had enough of her imbecilities!” he declared.
The balloon did not fly very far and came down seventy miles from Paris; and that evening the three aeronauts were back again, Sarah delighted beyond words with her experience.
In the morning she was informed by Perrin that she was to be fined. Sarah flew into a rage, went home, wrote out her resignation, and sent it to Perrin by a messenger. As usual, the threat prevailed. The fine was withdrawn, and so was Sarah’s resignation. But Perrin did not forgive her for a long time.
For a year or more it was open war between Sarah Bernhardt and the directors of the Comédie. Most of the men in the company sided against Sarah. She often complained that her male associates of the stage were far more jealous than the women, and that they would stoop to greater meannesses to revenge themselves. They caused her so many petty annoyances that she finally made up her mind to leave the Comédie.
The idea grew on her. She felt, as she expressed it, a prisoner in a cage of lions. Not only did they want to control her life in the theatre, but her private life was subject to their interference as well.