Heilbronn recalled the dedication written on the first work I had done and in which she had made her first appearance on the stage. "Do you still sing?" "No, I am rich, but nevertheless---- Shall I tell you?--I miss the stage. It haunts me. Oh, if I could only find a good part!" "I have one in _Manon_." "_Manon Lescaut_?" "No, _Manon_. That is all." "May I hear the music?" "When you like." "This evening?" "Impossible, it is nearly midnight." "What? I can't wait till morning. I feel that there is something in it. Go and get the score. You will find me in my apartment (the artiste lived in the Champs Élysées) with the piano open and the lights lit." I did as she said. I went home and got the score. Half-past four had struck when I sang the final bars of Manon's death. During my rendering Heilbronn was moved to tears. I heard her sigh through her sobs, "It is my life ... that is my life." This time, as ever has been the case, the sequel showed that I was right to wait, to take time in choosing an artist who would have to live my work. The day after he heard _Manon_, Carvalho signed the contract. The following year, after more than eighty consecutive performances, I learned of Marie Heilbronn's death!... I preferred to stop the performances rather than to see it sung by another. Some time afterwards the Opéra-Comique went up in flames. _Manon_ was not given again for ten years. Dear unique Sybil Sanderson took up the work at the Opéra-Comique and she played in the two-hundredth performance. A glory was reserved for me on the five hundredth performance. _Manon_ was sung by Marguerite Carré. A few months ago this captivating, exquisite artist was applauded on the evening of the 740th performance. In passing I want to pay tribute to the beautiful artistes who have taken the part. I will mention Mlles. Mary Garden, Geraldine Farrar, Lina Cavalieri, Mme. Bréjean-Silver, Mlles. Courtenay, Geneviève Vix, Mmes. Edvina and Nicot-Vauchelet, and still other dear artistes. They will pardon me if all their names do not come to my grateful pen at the moment. The Italian Theatre (Maurel's Season), as I have already said, put on _Hérodiade_ two weeks after the first performance of _Manon_, with the following admirable artists: Fidès Devriès, Jean de Reszke, Victor Maurel, Edouard de Reszke. As I write these lines in 1911, _Hérodiade_ continues its career at the Théâtre-Lyrique de la Gaîté (under the management of the Isola brothers) who put on the work in 1903 with the famous Emma Calvé. The day after the first performance of _Hérodiade_ in Paris I received these lines from our illustrious master, Gounod: Sunday, February 3, '84. My dear Friend: The noise of your success with _Hérodiade_ reaches me; but I lack that of the work itself, and I shall go to hear it as soon as possible, probably Saturday. Again new congratulations, and Good luck to you, CH. GOUNOD.