As to this first attempt at cooperative work, it failed for personal reasons. From the beginning Volkonsky felt his prestige as manager [Illustration: XIX THE “WOMEN OF GOOD HUMOUR” BALLET. RINALDO. (GOUACHE)] [Illustration: XX STAGE DECORATIONS FOR “PHÆDRA”. (GOUACHE)] [Illustration: XXI A COSTUME. “NARCISSUS” BALLET] [Illustration: XXII THE PILGRIM (“BLUE GOD” BALLET). (GOUACHE)] [Illustration: DRAWING OF A LIVING MODEL FOR A PICTURE] threatened by the consuming energy and the unscrupulous ambition of his “employé”, Diaghileff. To be sure, Diaghileff, conscious of his actual superiority, carried himself as though he were the boss. Fearing he would be supplanted by this <g>maire du palais</g>, the director requested Diaghileff to resign voluntarily. Diaghileff would do nothing of the sort. Exasperated, Volkonsky promptly discharged him, by applying the famous “paragraph three” of the rules and regulations to his case, by the terms of which the “government secretary Diaghileff” was forever barred from all public appearance. Who knows but that to this act of administrative jealousy we owe the grandiose effort of the “Russian Season”? Excluded from official life, Diaghileff, the great <g>condottiere</g> of art, could unfold his full power! Diaghileff left, his friends followed, a great gap closed in about the director, and several months later, not being able to have the last say in a quarrel with a star who was both famous and powerful, Volkonsky had himself to resign and leave. Bakst, however, had not participated in this boycott of the prince; he plunged into his work for its own sake. But it was not at the Marie Theater that he made his real <g>debut</g>. Grand-Duke Vladimir Alexandrovitch had brought back with him from one of his frequent trips to Paris the text for a pantomime, the author of which was Fèvre, the comedian. This play, The Heart of the Marchioness”, found favor with the directors. It was decided to play it at the Hermitage Theater, an auditorium reserved exclusively for the Imperial family and the members of the Court. It was connected with the Winter Palace by a passage. The French actors of the Michel Theater, under the direction of the <g>maître de ballet</g>, Enrico Cecchetti, executed the pantomime before an audience of grand dukes and chamberlains. Vladimir entrusted the scenery to Bakst. The latter conceived a semicircular pavilion as stage setting. For costumes he went straight to authentic sources and utilized the elements for devising a good ensemble. He brought a new idea to the theater: that of style. That is, at least, what eye-witnesses claim; nothing has been preserved of this work of his.