“Oh! how short it is! almost no long speeches, and I am so fond of lengthy dialogues! I am sorry now that I don’t play Suzanne. But I will copy both parts; then I can play the man or the woman as they want. I am not particular.”
The actress-apprentice stuffed the pamphlet into her bag and went out, winding about her body an old shawl which looked as if it had often done duty as a turban for Zaïre or Mohammed.
It must be very amusing to let books; you see a great many people and hear amusing things; there are people who instantly lay bare their folly, their absurdity, their wretched taste; but the business requires patience, especially when one has to do with such customers as the chevalier in the muffler.
I was about to return my newspaper and pay for it, when I heard a very familiar voice even before the person to whom it belonged had entered the door. I turned and saw my friend Bélan, who, in accordance with his custom, shouted as if he were talking to a deaf person, and found a way to occupy the space of four people, although he was very slim and his height exempted him from the conscription. But Bélan kept his arms in motion all the time, stood on tiptoe to increase his height, threw his head back, and went through the antics of a bear in a cage.
As he opened the door, Bélan spied me; he came toward me, exclaiming:
“Ah! I was looking for you, Blémont, my friend; I have just come from your rooms; they told me that you might be here, and here you are.”
“Hush! hush! don’t talk so loud,” I said to Bélan, whose shrill tones caused a revolution in the reading room. “Wait a moment; I am at your service.”
“My dear fellow, I have come about a very serious matter. I will tell you about it, and you will see whether——”
“Hush, I say; these people reading the newspapers, whom you are interrupting, don’t care anything about your affairs; that isn’t what they came here for.”
“That is true, but——”