CRIES OF DELIGHT:
He is bald! Bravo, pages--ha! ha! ha!. . .

THE BURGHER (furious, shaking his fist):
Young villain!

LAUGHTER AND CRIES (beginning very loud, and dying gradually away):
Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!

(Total silence.)

LE BRET (astonished):
What means this sudden silence?. . .
(A spectator says something to him in a low voice):
Is't true?

THE SPECTATOR:
I have just heard it on good authority.

MURMURS (spreading through the hall):
Hush! Is it he? No! Ay, I say! In the box with the bars in front! The
Cardinal! The Cardinal! The Cardinal!

A PAGE:
The devil! We shall have to behave ourselves. . .

(A knock is heard upon the stage. Every one is motionless. A pause.)

THE VOICE OF A MARQUIS (in the silence, behind the curtain):
Snuff that candle!