The dazzling success of the first performance was trumpeted through the European press, which, almost without exception, praised it in enthusiastic terms. As to the enthusiasm of the first days, it continued persistently through fifty-five consecutive performances, which, according to the papers, realized four thousand francs every evening above the subscriptions. _Hérodiade_, which made its first appearance on the stage of the Monnaie December 19, 1881, under the exceptionally brilliant circumstances just quoted from the newspapers of Belgium as well as of other countries, reappeared at this theater, after many revivals, during the first fortnight of November, 1911--nearly thirty years later. _Hérodiade_ long ago passed its hundredth performance at Brussels. And I was already thinking of a new work. CHAPTER XV THE ABBE PREVOST AT THE OPÉRA-COMIQUE One autumn morning in 1881 I was much disturbed, even anxious. Carvalho, the director of the Opéra-Comique, had entrusted to me the three acts of _Phoebé_ by Henri Meilhac. I had read and re-read them, but nothing in them appealed to me; I clashed with the work which I had to do; I was nervous and impatient. With fine bravery I went to see Meilhac. The happy author of so many delightful works, of so many successes, was in his library, among his rare books in marvellous bindings, a fortune piled up in his rooms on the mezzanine floor in which he lived at 30 Rue Drouot. I can still see him writing on a small round table beside a large table of the purest Louis XIV style. He had hardly seen me than he smiled his good smile, as if pleased, in the belief that I brought news of our _Phoebé_. "Is it finished?" he asked. I retorted _illico_ to this greeting, in a less assured tone: "Yes, it is finished; we will never speak of it again." A lion in his cage could not have been more abashed. My perplexity was extreme; I saw a void, nothingness, about me, when the title of a work struck me as a revelation. "_Manon!_" I cried, pointing to one of Meilhac's books. "_Manon Lescaut_, do you mean _Manon Lescaut_?" "No, _Manon_, _Manon_ short, _Manon_, it is _Manon!_" Meilhac had separated from Dudovic Halévy a little while before and had associated himself with Philippe Gille, that fine, delightful mind, a tender-hearted and charming man. "Come to lunch with me to-morrow at Vachette's," said Meilhac, "and I will tell you what I have done...." It is easy to imagine whether in keeping this engagement I had more curiosity in my heart or appetite in my stomach. I went to Vachette's and there to my inexpressible and delightful surprise I found beneath my napkin--the first two acts of _Manon_. The other three acts followed within a few days. The idea of writing this work had haunted me for a long time. Now the dream was realized. Although I was much excited by the rehearsals of _Hérodiade_ and greatly upset by my frequent trips to Brussels, I was already at work on _Manon_ in the summer of 1881.