Cabinska sprang at her, but halfway across she stopped short and burst into tears.
"On the right there is a sofa . . . it will be more comfortable for you to faint on, Madame Directress!" called someone from the chairs.
The company smiled with set faces.
"Pepa! . . . my wife! . . . calm yourself. . . . For God's sake can't we ever do any thing without these continual rumpuses!"
"Am I the cause of it?"
"I'm not blaming you . . . but you could at least calm yourself . . . there's no reason for you acting this way!"
"So that is the kind of husband and father you are! . . . that is the kind of director!" she shouted in fury.
"Hold out only one hour, and you'll go straight to heaven, you martyr!" someone called to Cabinski.
"Sir," queried a spectator, holding up one of the actors by the button of his coat. "Sir, are they playing something new?"
"First of all, that is a button from my coat which you have pulled off!" cried the actor, "and that, my dear sir, is the first act of a moving farce entitled Behind the Scenes; it is given each day with great success."