“First I must ask permission for a few words with Monsieur le Régisseur,” she said, with terrible humility. Monsieur Picot shook in his shoes; he begged his chère Madame to do him the great kindness of waiting until after the rehearsal.
“Until we have those few words there can be no rehearsal, Monsieur,” she replied, still in the deadly undertone of controlled rage.
The Manager gave himself up for lost.
“Madame!” he said, and bowed the way into his office. The rest of the company looked at each other and at Margot. They had never liked Margot, her manner of life disgusted them. A fille de théâtre should behave like a fille de théâtre and not like a fille du monde; surely the profession was hard enough without that clumsy addition!
Within the Manager’s small office, Liane addressed herself to the mirror and put an ostrich feather straight; she was never more terrible than when she was arranging her appearance.
“Bon!” she said. “You will have the kindness, Monsieur Picot, to instantly dismiss the little one who sang last night! her song is not necessary to the play that is now on, and her taking any part in the new piece is quite out of the question. I don’t know her name; her voice is execrable, she puts me out.”
Monsieur Picot shook his head.
“But, Madame,” he said persuasively, “I am simply desolated if she has displeased you, this little Selba; to tell the truth, I do not find that she sings so badly. We cannot all have the charm of a De Brances. But you are fatigued this morning. Sit down for a few moments, try this armchair, a cigarette Non? Ah! I find them such a rest for the nerves! Your triumph last night, now that was a sensation! In all probability you suffer this morning from a reaction. Ah! you geniuses! All alike, all alike! You conquer the world, but that is not enough for you, if you fail to find yourself amused next morning!”
Liane sat down, but she kept tapping her foot and playing with her muff during the manager’s speech; at the end of it she breathed quickly.
“A thousand thanks, Monsieur,” she said. “I repeat, I cannot continue to play a part subject to such interruptions from a cat that squalls, a toneless vegetable, a dreadful gauche, clumsy little insect!”