MEMOIRS OF SARAH BERNHARDT PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF HENRY IRVING _New and Cheaper Edition Price Six Shillings Net_ BY BRAM STOKER _Illustrated_ Mr. William Archer in the _Tribune_.—“A book that counts .... Irving the manager and the man-of-the-world lives in these pages.... We have here, in brief, the ideal Irving from an inside point of view—the Irving of the inner circle.” LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN 21 Bedford Street, W.C. [Illustration: SARAH BERNHARDT AS “ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR” BY WALTER SPINDLER ] _MY DOUBLE LIFE_ MEMOIRS OF SARAH BERNHARDT WITH MANY PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS [Illustration] LONDON WILLIAM HEINEMANN 1907 _Copyright London 1907 by William Heinemann, and Washington, U.S.A., D. Appleton and Company_ CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. CHILDHOOD 1 II. AT BOARDING SCHOOL 6 III. CONVENT LIFE 16 IV. MY DÉBUT 27 V. THE SOLDIER’S SHAKO 38 VI. THE FAMILY COUNCIL AND MY FIRST VISIT TO A THEATRE 46 VII. MY CAREER—FIRST LESSONS 59 VIII. THE CONSERVATOIRE 64 IX. A MARRIAGE PROPOSAL AND EXAMINATIONS—THE CONSERVATOIRE 73 X. MY FIRST ENGAGEMENT 88 XI. MY DÉBUT AT THE HOUSE OF MOLIÈRE, AND MY FIRST DEPARTURE THEREFROM 98 XII. AT THE GYMNASE THEATRE—A TRIP TO SPAIN 107 XIII. FROM THE PORTE ST. MARTIN THEATRE TO THE ODÉON 118 XIV. “LE PASSANT”—AT THE TUILERIES—FIRE IN MY FLAT 135 XV. THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 151 XVI. SARAH BERNHARDT’S AMBULANCE AT THE ODÉON THEATRE 160 XVII. PARIS BOMBARDED 172 XVIII. A BOLD JOURNEY THROUGH THE GERMAN LINES 189 XIX. MY RETURN TO PARIS—THE COMMUNE—AT ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE 216