A month after this visit we were requested to attend the reading of this piece at the Comédie.
The reading was a great success, and I was delighted with my rôle, Catherine de Septmonts. I also liked the rôle of Croizette, Mrs. Clarkson.
Got gave us each copies of our parts, and thinking that he had made a mistake, I passed on to Croizette the rôle of l’Etrangère which he had just given me, saying to her, “Here, Got has made a mistake—here is your rôle.”
“But he is not making any mistake. It is I who am to play the Duchesse de Septmonts.”
I burst out into irrepressible laughter, which surprised everybody present, and when Perrin, annoyed, asked me at whom I was laughing like that, I exclaimed:
“At all of you—you, Dumas, Got, Croizette, and all of you who are in the plot, and who are all a little afraid of the result of your cowardice. Well, you need not alarm yourselves. I was delighted to play the Duchesse de Septmonts, but I shall be ten times more delighted to play l’Etrangère. And this time, my dear Sophie, I’ll be quits with you; no ceremony, I tell you; for you have played me a little trick which was quite unworthy of our friendship!”
The rehearsals were strained on all sides. Perrin, who was a warm partisan of Croizette, bewailed the want of suppleness of her talent, so much so that one day Croizette, losing all patience, burst out:
“Well, Monsieur, you should have left the rôle to Sarah; she would have played it with the voice you wish in the love scenes; I cannot do any better. You irritate me too much: I have had enough of it!” And she ran off, sobbing, into the little guignol, where she had an attack of hysteria.
I followed her and consoled her as well as I could. And in the midst of her tears she kissed me, murmuring, “It is true. It is they who instigated me to play this nasty trick, and now they are annoying me.” Croizette used vulgar expressions, very vulgar ones, and at times uttered many a Gallic joke.
That day we made up our quarrel entirely.