"'The drama was played,' says M. Dumas; 'they gave the name of the _young man._ (M. Dumas has throughout used _that expression_ to designate me.) To hear a whole theatre clapping, demanding your name and, instead of one's own, an unknown name given up to the halo of publicity; and all this _when one might have done otherwise, since no sort of promise binds you, since no engagement whatever has been entered into,_ this is the philosophy of delicacy pushed to the extremest limit.' "Well, here is the letter I received from M. Dumas before the performance, and the _conditions_ on which alone I consented to allow the play to be acted." That letter, the first that I wrote to M. Gaillardet, will not have been forgotten. "Now, reader, decide. In the case of M. Dumas, which holds its head highest, the _philosophy_ of delicacy, or, indeed, that of _assurance_? 'Duvemoy came in search of me,' continues M. Dumas, 'and we _settled_ there and then the conditions of the sale. It was _fixed_ at 1400 francs, 700 of which were to be handed to the _young man._ Doubtless this sum did not appear to the _young man_ proportionate to the merit of his drama.... In a fortnight's time, he signed a contract of sale for a sum total of 500 francs. The _young man_ would have done better, you see, to go on letting me look after his business affairs.' "Here is a declaration signed by M. Duvemoy. "'By the same impartial spirit which made me give a declaration to M. Alexandre Dumas in which I acknowledged that M. Gaillardet had offered me the MS. of _La Tour de Nesle_ (we shall see this later), I assert that _there was never any question_ of 1400 francs for the price of the said MS., but of a sum which, I believe, was to be 1000 francs. DUVERNOY "'PARIS, 8 _Septembre_ 1834' "I have much more to say and all the _philosophies_ to quote! but they will find room in my narrative; for, now, yes,--now, I feel myself quite strong enough to undertake them! "It was on 27 March that I read my drama _La Tour de Nesle_ to M. Harel in the presence of M. Janin and of Mademoiselle Georges. The drama was received. 'Dumas could not have done better!' exclaimed the manager, enthusiastically. 'There is, however, something to touch up in the style, which is not at all dramatic; but do not worry yourself about that; begin another drama, and Janin will do us both the favour of revising some pages.' I did not quite comprehend how M. Janin, who had never written a play, could have a dramatic style, to use the manager's expression. 'But, if he has not written one,' I said to myself, 'he has heard a great many, which, perhaps, comes to the same thing.'