“Standing there in the doorway like a magistrate come to judge—to judge me, the mother of his child whom I carried in my arms—he asked me what I wanted. I could not believe his attitude.
“‘I have come to show you your child, and to demand your recognition of him!’ I answered.
“The Prince’s reply was to become purple with anger, to thump his fist on the table, and not only to deny the child, but to make the most monstrous allegation conceivable.
“Nearly fainting, I went from the house in tears, my baby’s cries mingling in my ears with the music of the dance and the shouts of the reckless party within.”
Such was the first great trial of the woman who was to become the most famous tragic actress on the world’s stage.
The fortitude that Sarah Bernhardt gave proof of then became the basis of the strong character which slowly formed from that day onwards. Scorned by the man who of all men had best the right to help her, Sarah bitterly determined to make the males of the species pay for the agony of her calvary.
This was the turning point of Sarah Bernhardt’s life. In one respect the world owes the evil Prince —— a debt, for had he recognised the child, had he lavished money and tenderness upon the mother, there is a probability that she would never have found the will and determination which were the earnest of her future success. Never was the adage that courage is born of necessity truer than in the case of the young Sarah Bernhardt.
Forced to work to support her child, whom she sent to a professional nurse in Normandy, Sarah laboured with a fierceness and a tenacity unequalled in the history of the stage.
She found work at the Gymnase, at the Porte St. Martin, at the Vaudeville, at the Lyric and at other theatres. Never allowing herself a moment’s rest, studying her parts far into the night, arriving always the first for rehearsals, she gamely set foot on rung after rung of the ladder which she had herself set up.
Her reputation, which had been so sadly tarnished by her previous mistakes, became once more satisfactory. She enjoyed the friendship of influential managers and playwrights. It was not long before she became marked for success. Critics began to comment favourably on her work, especially in La Biche au Bois, a play at the Porte St. Martin, which gave her her first opportunity as a star, and which resulted in her being offered a contract by M. Fournier for three years.