“What’s the matter?” he asked in cynical amazement.
“I will not ride any further with an assassin!” she said, and then galloped away.
This unjust accusation deeply mortified O’Connor, especially as Sarah refused to see him the next day when he rode over to offer renewed explanations and to exact an apology.
CHAPTER XIV
The Paris papers were full of it; the literary and theatrical world talked of nothing else: Victor Hugo was to be played again!
It was Ruy Blas, naturally, that had been chosen for the opening of the Hugo season, and it was at the Odéon that the play was to be given. Duquesnel and Chilly, after many long conferences, had come to the conclusion that the decision as to who was to be the chief interpreter of the piece should be left to the illustrious dramatist himself. Sarah Bernhardt saw Chilly.
“I must play Ruy Blas!” she said to him.
“But, mademoiselle, there are others whose claim is greater than yours,” said the little manager. “Monsieur Hugo cannot and will not be influenced in his choice! I can tell you nothing until I have seen him.”
Sarah Bernhardt went to Pierre Berton.