audience mounted to a painful height. The first act ended in applause; and the second was as warmly received. In the midst of the play the author, unconsciously copying Goldsmith, rushed out for a time and paced the boulevards, unable to face his fate. The startling climax to the third act took away the breath; and for a moment the fate of the play hung in suspense: then the theatre shook with a rushing storm of applause. The curtain fell on the fourth act amid frenzied "bravos." "A hundred francs," cried the excited author to the scene-shifters, "if the curtain goes up again before they stop applauding!" And the fifth act actually commenced before the audience had finished acclaiming the fourth.
We have already indicated the dénouement of "Antony." That "hero," surprised by the husband, stabs Adèle, and throws the dagger at the wronged man's feet, saying, "She resisted me; and I killed her!"[1]
- ↑ Dumas tells a story respecting this famous "tag" which we cannot omit. At a revival of the play, some years later, the prompter, through ignorance, rang down the curtain immediately Antony had stabbed Adèle. The public, furious at being cheated of the famous line, clamoured "Le dénouement le dénouement!" Bocage sulked in his dressing-room, and would not return; but Marie Dorval good-naturedly remained on the stage, and the curtain was rung up again, in the hope that Antony would feel obliged to return.
Adèle was discovered, dead, in her chair. There was a silence. At last Dorval rose slowly, and coming down to the footlights, remarked pleasantly, "Gentlemen, I resisted him, and he killed me." Then she made her best bow, and retired, amidst frantic applause.
