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Mademoiselle Adrienne Lecouvreur was then the idol of the Parisians, and she was moving all Paris to tears in Monsieur Arouet's or Voltaire's, for I continually forget tragedy of Mariamne. The present performance, I then knew, was to be a burlesque on the play of the notary's son.
She asks no pay, but I would give her more than all the child actors in my company get, if I could always command her services." "And when Madame Riano finds it out?" asked Monsieur Voltaire. "Then, God be my help!" "But, Monsieur Haret," said Mademoiselle Lecouvreur, "truly, it is not right that a young girl of her condition should be allowed to mix with the class of children you have here."
When supper was over, Mademoiselle Lecouvreur, by a sign, indicated that Count Saxe was to remain after the rest had left. All took their departure, including Regnard Cheverny, who bade me a civil adieu. Mademoiselle Lecouvreur took Count Saxe into her boudoir. I went into the saloon, where the candles were dying in their sockets. Presently the two came out of the boudoir.
Here it was that the Marquis de Prerolles appeared in the evening after his experience at the skating-pond. He had dressed, and had dined in great haste at a restaurant near the theatre. The posters announced a revival of 'Adrienne Lecouvreur', with Mademoiselle Gontier in the principal role, in which she was to appear for the first time.
From the bottom of my heart I also thanked all my detractors and slanderers, as it was through them that I had had the pleasure of fighting, with the certainty of conquering. The victory was all the more enjoyable as I had not dared to hope for it. I gave twenty-seven performances in New York. The plays were Adrienne Lecouvreur, Froufrou, Hernani, La Dame aux Camelias, Le Sphinx, and L'Etrangere.
He glared at the laughing faces about him, sat still a moment, then rising, with a half bow, half scowl at Mademoiselle Lecouvreur, stalked out of the room. It was well known that, like most wits, he bore ridicule extremely ill, and could not stand being laughed at. As for Count Saxe, he hugged me, and I had so many compliments made to me that I was alarmed for fear I should be reckoned a wit.
Other girls of her own station met life cheerfully, worked away from dawn till dusk, and then had their moments of amusement, and even jollity, with their companions, after the fashion of all children. But Adrienne Lecouvreur was unhappy because she chose to be.
"This, I presume, is at the instigation of that rascal Lafarge," he cried. "The people passing by here stop and pay a few pence, and see a better performance than can be seen at the Comédie Française, around the corner. So the audiences have been falling off. I hear there is scarcely any one in the house the nights Mademoiselle Lecouvreur does not play." Nothing availed.
But although Voltaire must have guessed it all, he forbore to gibe at the letter. Love and pity had made him almost human. There was, however, no room for him or me either in the room then. Mademoiselle Lecouvreur longed to be alone with her treasure of a few scrawled lines, and both of us went out. The door passed, we were in the foyer.
And the day following my first performance of Adrienne Lecouvreur, Auguste Vitu telegraphed to the Figaro a long article, in which he criticised me in certain scenes, regretting that I had not followed the example of Rachel, whom I had never seen.
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