"Oho! so Thésée will be all yellow, eh?" "That's traditional, and tradition is never wrong. But let's go on with the second act; we must hope that he will turn up." They began the second act, which did not go so well as the first. Aricie, in a moment of passion, spat her tobacco into Hippolyte's face, whereupon the latter kicked her viciously just as her lover said to her: "'Modérez des bontés dont l'excès m'embarrasse!'"[E] [E] Be not so kind to me; your excessive kindness embarrasses me. "That will teach you to be more careful," said Dubourg. "If I wasn't a woman, I'd answer you in another way," retorted the carpenter, shaking his fist at him. "I advise you to keep quiet!" Floridor hurried from his box to reconcile Hippolyte and Aricie; he succeeded at last in pacifying them, and the performance continued. But, a moment later, Dubourg, being on the stage with Phèdre, waited for the prompter to give him his cue; but the cue did not come, because the prompter could not see. "Snuffers!" he cried; "give me some snuffers!" "What a stupid!" said Phèdre, and she stooped and took the candle, and gracefully snuffed it with her fingers. "There, my boy, that's the way we do when we have any instinct." And she replaced the candlestick in the box. This little interlude was not agreeable to the audience, who had already begun to murmur at the quarrel between Hippolyte and the princess; and one enthusiast, who was more exacting than the rest because he had occasionally attended the theatre at Grenoble, threw a raw potato, which struck Phèdre in the left eye. The constable's wife finished the scene in tears, and the second act came to an end at the same time, with indications that a storm was brewing. Floridor, who came out of his box after each act, ran on to the stage to console Phèdre, who declared that she would not act any more. He tried to restore the courage of his actors by assuring them that the later acts would make amends for everything; he relied especially on the début of Thésée, who had not yet appeared, and to whom he looked to produce a prodigious effect. But Thésée did not arrive, and the anxiety became general. "What can have happened to him? I'll run back to the inn," said Dubourg, "for his delay begins to surprise me; I'll bring him back with me at once." "Make haste!" cried Floridor; "for if we keep the audience waiting, everything will be hopelessly ruined."