Not till the following year, during the days of the Commune, do we find him at le Vésinet. Then he writes (also to Guiraud): "Here we are without half our things, without our books, without anything in fact, and absolutely there are no means of getting into Paris.... So, dear friend, if you have any news, do, I pray you, let us have it. I read the Versailles papers, but they tell their wretched readers (and expect them to believe it) that France is 'très tranquille,' Paris alone excepted (_sic_). The day before yesterday was anything but tranquil. For twelve hours there was nothing but a continuous cannonade.... But _we_ are safe enough, for although the Prussian patrols continue to increase in number we are not inconvenienced by them, and they will not, in all probability, occupy le Vésinet. But it seems quite impossible to say how all this is going to end. I am absolutely discouraged, and what is more, I fear, dear friend, there is worse trouble ahead of us. I am off now to the village to look at a piano; I must work and try to forget it all." He finished "Djamileh" at le Vésinet. It was produced at the Opéra Comique in May of 1872. Gallet tells us that he did not write the book specially for Bizet. Under the title of "Namouna," it had been given by M. du Locle to Jules Duprato, a musician and a "prix de Rome." But Duprato _paressait agréablement_, and never got much further with it than the composition of a certain _air de danse_ to the verses commencing: "Indolente, grave et lente," which are to be found also in Bizet's score. Then there came a time when the Opéra Comique, truly one of the most good-natured of institutions in its own peculiar way, so far belied its reputation as to tire of this idling on the part of M. Duprato. So the work passed on to Bizet. He suggested change of title, and "Namouna" became "Djamileh." But it remained nevertheless the poem of Musset. "Je vous dirais qu' Hassan racheta Namouna * * * * * Qu'on reconnut trop tard cette tête adorée Et cette douce nuit qu'elle avait espérée Que pour prix de ses maux le ciel la lui donna. Je vous dirais surtout qu' Hassan dans cette affaire Sentit que tôt ou tard la femme avait son tour Et que l'amour de soi ne vaut pas l'autre amour."