The Prince led him away as soon as he had
made his adieux to the young girl and the elder lady.
"Are you ill or insane?" he asked his Secretary.
"Insane, yes; I think I must be going insane," murmured the young man
in a choking voice.
The play was in four acts, there were still two to come. The audience
seemed to watch in a delirium of delight, and when the last curtain
dropped, they called Esperance back eight times, and demanded the
author.
In spite of all the talent displayed by Sardou as author, there was
much enthusiasm and an unconscious gratitude in him as the discoverer
of a new sensation.... No comet acclaimed by astronomers as capable of
doubling the harvest would have moved the populace as did the
description in all the papers of this new star in Paris.
CHAPTER VI
The family found itself back on the Boulevard Raspail. The Darbois had
not cared to leave their box. After every act, Mlle. Frahender carried
their comments and tender messages to Esperance. Francois Darbois had
great difficulty in constraining himself to remain in the noisy
vestibule. He suffered too acutely at seeing his daughter, that pure
and delicate child, the focus of every lorgnette, the subject of every
conversation. Several phrases he had overheard from a group of men had
brought him to his feet in a frenzy; then he fell back in his place
like one stunned. Nevertheless there had not been one offensive word.
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