First performance of _la Mère et la Fille_--I have supper with Harel after the performance--Harel imprisons me after supper--I am sentenced to eight days' enforced work at _Napoléon_--On the ninth day the piece is read to the actors and I am set at liberty--The rehearsals--The actor Charles--His story about Nodier CHAPTER V I am officially received into the Artillery Corps of the National Guard--_Antony_ is put under rehearsal at the Théâtre-Français--Ill-will of the actors--Treaty between Hugo and the manager of the Porte-Saint-Martin--Firmin's proposition and confidence--Mademoiselle Mars' dresses and the new gas lights--I withdraw _Antony_ from the Théâtre-Français--I offer Dorval the part of Adèle CHAPTER VI My agreements with Dorval--I read _Antony_--Her impressions-- She makes me alter the last act there and then--Merle's room--Bocage as artist--Bocage as negotiator--Reading to M. Crosnier--He falls into a profound slumber--The play nevertheless is accepted APPENDIX THE MEMOIRS OF ALEXANDRE DUMAS BOOK I CHAPTER I Mademoiselle Georges' house--Harel and Jules Janin--Young Tom and Popol--The latter's prayer against cholera--Georges' Oriental style of living--Her cleanliness--Harel's fault to the contrary--Twenty-four thousand francs flung out of the window--Saint Anthony--Piaff-Piaff--His dissoluteness--His death--His funeral oration My _Christine_ rehearsals had opened Mademoiselle Georges' house to me, as those of _Henri III._ had given me the entrée to that of Mademoiselle Mars. The house that my good and excellent Georges occupied, No. 12 rue Madame, was, if I remember rightly, made up of very original inhabitants. First of all, in the attics lived Jules Janin, the second tenant. Then came Harel, the principal tenant, who lived on the second floor. And on the first and ground floors were Georges, her sister and her two nephews. One of these two nephews, who is now a tall, fine, clever-looking young fellow who bears the name of Harel, had for a long time figured regularly on his aunt's playbills, both in the provinces and in Paris, for she could not do without him, either at the theatre or about town. My readers will recollect the phrase which never varied for five or six years running-- "Young Tom, aged ten, will take the part of," etc. The other names would vary from that of Joas to that of Thomas Diafoirus; but the age never varied: young Tom was always ten. We ought to be fair to young Tom; he hated acting and, every time he had to go on the stage, he would mutter between his teeth-- "Curse the theatre! If only it could be burnt down!" "What is that you are saying, Tom?" Mademoiselle Georges would ask. "Nothing, aunt," Tom would reply; "I am only repeating my part."