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By Root 1440 0

of the crush, while others were walking up and down in rows, now and again turning sharply on their heels, which resounded on the waxed boards. To the right and left, women, occupying the red velvet seats placed between the jasper columns, watched the crowd as it passed with a weary air, as if exhausted by the intense heat; and behind them could be seen their chignons in the tall glasses decorating the walls. At the end of the saloon, a man with a very big belly was standing at the bar drinking a glass of syrup.h Fauchery had gone out on to the balcony to get a breath of fresh air. La Faloise who had been studying some photographs of actresses placed in frames, which alternated with the looking-glasses between the columns, ended by following him. The row of gas-jets in front of the theatre had just been extinguished. It was dark and cool on the balcony, which appeared to be vacant, with the exception of one solitary figure—that of a young man who, enveloped in shadow, leant against the stone balustrade in the recess on the right smoking a cigarette. Fauchery recognised Daguenet. They shook hands.

“Whatever are you doing there, old fellow?” asked the journalist. “Hiding in odd corners; you who, as a rule, never leave the stalls during a first night’s performance.”

“But I am smoking, as you see,” answered Daguenet.

Then Fauchery, so as to embarrass him, said, “And the new star, what do you think of her? The remarks I have heard made about the house are rather disparaging.”

“Oh!” murmured Daguenet, “by men with whom she would not have anything to do.”

This was all the criticism he offered on Nana’s talent. La Faloise, leaning forward, looked up and down the Boulevard. The windows of a hotel and a club opposite were brilliantly lighted, while on the pavement a compact mass of customers occupied the tables of the Café de Madrid. Nothwithstanding the lateness of the hour, the crowd was immense; everyone had to walk slowly. A stream of people continually flowed from the Passage Jouffroy, and persons were obliged to wait five minutes sometimes, before they could cross from one side of the road to the other, so great was the throng of vehicles.

“What animation! what noise!” La Faloise, who had not yet ceased to be astonished at Paris, kept repeating.

A bell rang, and the saloon rapidly emptied. Every one hurried along the passages. The curtain had risen, but a crowd still streamed in, much to the disgust of those of the audience who were already seated. The late comers hastened to their places with animated and attentive looks. La Faloise’s first glance was for Gaga; but he was astonished to notice by her side the tall fellow with light hair, who, during the first act, had been in Lucy’s stage-box.

“What did you say was the name of that gentleman?” he asked.

Fauchery did not see the person meant at once. “Ah! yes, Labordette,” he said at last, in the same careless tone of voice as before.

The scenery of the second act was a surprise. It represented a low dancing establishment of the suburbs, called the “Boule Noire,” on a Shrove Tuesday. Some masqueraders, dressed in grotesque costumes, sang a lively strain, the chorus of which they accompanied by stamping their heels. The words and gestures being not over decorous and quite unexpected, amused the audience immensely, and secured the honours of an encore. And it was into this place that the troop of gods, led astray by Iris, who falsely claimed to know the earth, had come to pursue their investigations. They were disguised so as to preserve their incognito. Jupiter appeared as King Dagobert,i with his breeches turned wrong side out, and a huge tin crown on his head. Phoebus masqueraded as the Postillion of Longjumeau,j and Minerva as a Norman wet nurse. Shouts of laughter greeted Mars, who wore a preposterous costume, as a Swiss admiral; but the mirth became scandalous when Neptune, dressed in a blouse and tall cap, with little curls glued to his temples, dragged after him his slip-shod shoes, and said, in an unctuous tone of voice: “Well! what next? When a fellow’s handsome,