I looked at him without replying and he felt awkward and mumbled:
“Well, then, you are of my opinion?”
“No,” I answered, “you have forgotten the Comédie.”
He was sitting in his big armchair and he burst out laughing.
“Ah, no, my dear girl!” he said, “you must not tell me that! They’ve had enough of your queer character at the Comédie. I dined the other night with Maubant and when some one said that you ought to be engaged at the Comédie Française he nearly choked with rage. I can assure you he did not show much affection as far as you were concerned, the great tragedian!”
“Oh, well, you ought to have taken my part!” I exclaimed, irritated. “You know very well that I am very reliable.”
“But I did take your part,” he said, “and I added even that it would be a very fortunate thing for the Comédie if it could have an artiste with your will power, that perhaps might relieve the monotonous tone of the house, and I only spoke as I thought, but the poor tragedian was beside himself. He does not consider that you have any talent. In the first place, he maintains that you do not know how to recite poetry. He declares that you make all your A’s too broad. Finally, when he had no arguments left, he declared that as long as he lives you will never enter the Comédie Française.”
I was silent for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of the probable result of my experiment. Finally coming to a decision, I murmured somewhat waveringly: “Well, then, you will not give me a higher salary?”
“No, a thousand times no!” yelled Chilly. “You will try to make me sing when your engagement comes to an end and then we will see. But I have your signature until then. You have mine, too, and I hold to our engagement. The Théâtre Français is the only one that would suit you besides ours, and I am quite easy in my mind with regard to that theater.”
“You make a mistake, perhaps,” I answered. He got up brusquely and came and stood opposite me, his two hands in his pockets. He then said in an odious and familiar tone: “Ah! that’s it, is it? You think I am an idiot, then?”