“You see, you have now been in the water for two hours,” he explained, “and you want to get back your strength. You take a pin and prick an egg, like this. You take your lump of sugar and eat it, that is as good as a quarter of a pound of meat.” He then threw the broken bladder overboard, and from the packing case brought out another, which he fastened to the life belt. He had evidently thought of everything. I was petrified with amazement. A few of my friends had gathered round, hoping for one of “La Quenelle’s” mad freaks, but they had never expected anything like this one.
M. Mayer, one of our impresarios, fearing a scandal of too absurd a kind, dispersed the people who were gathering round us. I did not know whether to be angry or to laugh, but the jeering, unjust speech of one of my friends roused my pity for this poor “Quenelle.” I thought of the hours he had spent in planning, combining, and then manufacturing his ridiculous machine. I was touched by the anxiety and affection which had prompted the invention of this life-saving apparatus, and I held out my hand to my poor “Quenelle,” saying: “Be off, now, quickly, the boat is just going to start.”
He kissed the hand held out to him in a friendly way, and hurried off. I then called my steward Claude, and I said, “As soon as we are out of sight of land throw that case and all it contains into the sea.”
The departure of the boat was accompanied by shouts of “Hurrah! Au revoir! Success! Good luck!” There was a waving of hands, handkerchiefs floating in the air, and kisses thrown haphazard to everyone.
But what was really fine and a sight I shall never forget, was our landing at Folkestone. There were thousands of people there, and it was the first time I had ever heard the cry of “Vive Sarah Bernhardt!”
I turned my head and saw before me a pale young man, the ideal face of Hamlet. He presented me with a gardenia. I was destined to admire him later on as Hamlet. He was Forbes-Robertson. We passed on through a crowd offering us flowers and shaking hands, and I soon saw that I was more favored than the others. This slightly embarrassed me, but I was delighted all the same. One of my comrades, who was just near, and with whom I was not a favorite, said to me, in a spiteful tone: “They’ll make you a carpet of flowers soon.”
“Here is one!” exclaimed a young man, throwing an armful of lilies on the ground in front of me. I stopped short, rather confused, not daring to walk on these white flowers, but the crowd pressing on behind compelled me to advance, and the poor lilies had to be trodden under foot.
“Hip, hip, hurrah! a cheer for Sarah Bernhardt!” shouted the turbulent young man. His head was above all the other heads, he had luminous eyes and long hair, and looked like a German student. He was an English poet, though, and one of the greatest of this century, a poet who was a genius, but who was, alas! tortured and finally vanquished by madness. It was Oscar Wilde. The crowd responded to his appeal, and we reached our train amid shouts of “Hip, hip, hurrah, for Sarah Bernhardt! Hip, hip, hurrah, for the French artistes!”
When the train arrived at Charing Cross toward nine o’clock, we were nearly an hour late. A feeling of sadness came over me. The weather was gloomy, and then, too, I thought we should have been greeted again upon our arrival in London with more “hurrahs!...” There were plenty of people, crowds of people, but none appeared to know us.
On reaching the station I had noticed that there was a handsome carpet laid down and I thought it was for us. Oh, I was prepared for anything, as our reception at Folkestone had turned my head. The carpet, however, had been laid down for their Royal Highnesses the Prince and the Princess of Wales, who had just left for Paris.