"That's true; I must depend on him."
"As long as you know your first speech, that's all that's necessary."
"Oh! as to that, I'm not at all alarmed:
"'La fortune à mes vœux cesse d'être opposée,
Madame, et dans vos bras met——'"
"Bravo! you say it like an angel."
"It's the curse that bothers me."
"See that you gesticulate enough, and it will be all right."
At midday, Monsieur Floridor came to escort them to the theatre, where the rest of the troupe was waiting for them. The aspect of the little hall, which they reached through a dovecote, where the box-office was located, amused Dubourg mightily, while Ménard collided with two old hogsheads which did duty as mountains.
The troupe manifested the greatest respect for the two new-comers, who rehearsed book in hand. Dubourg did not say a word that the others did not exclaim:
"How well that was declaimed! what talent!"