She wrote her resignation, posted it, and then fled from Paris, so that no one could call her back. She was gone five weeks, and nobody knew her address.
When she returned, she found Jarrett waiting for her with a new contract for London, to be followed by one for America. She accepted both, and returned to London with her own company. There the eccentricities of her previous visit were forgiven, and her triumph was complete until she made the serious mistake of taking her son to the home of Lord and Lady R——, where she was invited to play.
Lady R——’s indignation at Sarah’s daring action, though Sarah herself probably considered it nothing out of the ordinary, knew no bounds, and she gave secret instructions to her butler. This functionary advanced before Sarah into the huge ball-room, which was crowded with people distinguished in British society, and solemnly announced:
“Mademoiselle Sarah Bernhardt and her son!”
After this she was, of course, unmercifully snubbed, and left in a rage ten minutes later. This was Sarah Bernhardt’s last appearance in British society until Queen Victoria, yielding to the entreaties of the Prince of Wales, lifted the ban and commanded her to give a performance of La Dame aux Camélias at Windsor Castle.
But this recognition did not come until many long years afterwards.
CHAPTER XXI
“Enough of Sarah Bernhardt! Now that she has finally left the Comédie Française, let us forget her!”
This was the slogan of Sarah’s enemies in the year 1880. And many of her friends thought, with a sigh of relief, that they were to be spared for a little while, at any rate, the pain of the extraordinary publicity the actress provoked.