Happily my cold did not last long. Two days later I was up again, better than ever. I profited by this by going with my wife, always curious and eager to see picturesque places, to wander in an abandoned park. We were there in the solitude of that rich, luxuriant nature, in the olive groves, which let us see through their grayish green leaves, so tender and sweet, the sea in its changeless blue, when I discovered ... a cat! Yes, a cat, a real cat, and a very friendly one! Knowing without a doubt that I had always been friendly with his kind, he honored me with his society and his insistent and affectionate mewings never left me. I poured out my anxious heart to this companion. Indeed, it was during my hours of isolation that the dress rehearsal of _Roma_ was at its height. Yes, I said to myself, just now Lentulus has arrived. Now Junia. Behold Fausta in the arms of Fabius. At this very moment Posthumia drags herself to the feet of the cruel senators. For we, we others, have, and it is a strange fact, an intuition of the exact moment when this or that scene is played, a sort of divination of the mathematical division of time applied to the action of the theater. It was the fourteenth of February. The sun of that splendid day could not but brighten the joy of all my fine artists. Monte Carlo, Feb. 29, 1912. Dear great friend, You do me the honor to ask me for these lines for reproduction in America. In America!... It will be my glory to send thither my thought, full of admiration for that great country, for its choice public, for its theaters in which my works have been given. You honor my artists and myself so much by speaking of _Roma_, and I am the prouder of your words because they will present that _tragic opera_ with your talent's high authority. MASSENET. [Illustration: Facsimile of Massenet's Reply to an Invitation to Visit America] I cannot speak of the superb first performance of _Roma_ without a certain natural embarrassment. I leave that task to others, but I permit myself to reproduce what anyone could read in the next day's papers. * * * * * The interpretation--one of the most beautiful that it has been our lot to applaud--was in every way worthy of this new masterpiece of Massenet's. A remarkable thing which must be noted in the first place is that all the parts are what are termed in theatrical parlance "good rôles." Every one of them gives its interpreter chances for effects in singing and acting which are calculated to win the admiration and applause of the audience. Having said this much in praise of the work, let us congratulate the marvellous interpreters in their order on the program. Mlle. Kousnezoff with her youth, fresh beauty and superb dramatic soprano voice was a feast to the eyes and the ears and she will continue to be for a long time the prettiest and most seductive Fausta that one might wish for.