couldomitnone，wouldoccupyanotherquarterofanhour；butinsteadofindulginginuselessrecriminations，Iresignedmyselfandcontinuedmyperformance，thoughIwasapreytofrightfulanxiety。Whilespeaking，IfanciedIcouldhearthatcadencedyellofthepublictowhichthefamoussong，“Deslampions，deslampions，“wasset。Thus，eitherthroughpreoccupationoradesiretoendsooner，IfoundwhenmyperformancewasoverIhadgainedfiveminutesoutofthequarterofanhour。Assuredly，itmighthecalledthequarterofanhour’sgrace。
TojumpintoacarriageanddrivetothePlacedelaBoursewastheaffairofaninstant；still，twentyminuteshadelapsedsincethecurtainfell，andthatwasanenormoustime。MysonEmileandI
proceededuptheactors’stairsatfullspeed，butonthefirststepwehadheardthecries，whistling，andstampingoftheimpatientaudience。Whataprospect!Iknewthatfrequently，eitherrightorwrong，thepublictreatedanartiste，nomatterwhom，veryharshly，toremindhimofpunctuality。Thatsovereignalwaysappearstohaveonitslipsthewordsofanothermonarch：“I
wasobligedtowait。“However，wehurriedupthestepsleadingtothestage。
Thestagemanager，whohadbeenwatching，onhearingourhurriedsteps，criedfromthelanding：