are not the statue of General Malet, that you are General Malet in
person, that my play is not a catalogue of wax-work figures, but a
living moving tragedy, one which brings the tears into your eyes, and----"

Words failed him, and he sobbed for a long while into his handkerchief.
Then he roared:

"Holy thunder! Pradel! Romilly! Where is Romilly? Ah, there he is, the
villain! Romilly, I told you to put the stove nearer the dormer-window.
You have not done so. What are you thinking of, my friend?"

The rehearsal was suddenly brought to a standstill by a serious
difficulty. Chevalier, the bearer of documents on which hung the fate of
the Empire, was to escape from his prison by the dormer-window. The
stage "business" had not yet been settled; it had been impossible to do
so before the setting of the stage was completed. It was now discovered
that the measurements had been wrongly taken, and the dormer-window was
not accessible.

The author leapt on to the stage.

"Romilly, my friend, the stove is not in the place fixed on. How can you
expect Chevalier to get out through the dormer-window? Push the stove to
the right at once."

"I'm willing enough," said Romilly, "but we shall be blocking up the
door."

"What's that? We shall be blocking up the door?"