"What 'something' am I supposed to know?" he said. "I don't know what

you mean."

Remy began to lose his temper.

"This evening, Richard and Moncharmin were behaving like lunatics,

here, between the acts."

"I never noticed it," growled Gabriel, very much annoyed.

"Then you're the only one! ... Do you think that I didn't see them? ...

And that M. Parabise, the manager of the Credit Central, noticed

nothing? ... And that M. de La Borderie, the ambassador, has no eyes to

see with? ... Why, all the subscribers were pointing at our managers!"

"But what were our managers doing?" asked Gabriel, putting on his most

innocent air.

"What were they doing? You know better than any one what they were

doing! ... You were there! ... And you were watching them, you and

Mercier! ... And you were the only two who didn't laugh."

"I don't understand!"

Gabriel raised his arms and dropped them to his sides again, which

gesture was meant to convey that the question did not interest him in

the least. Remy continued: "What is the sense of this new mania of theirs? WHY WON'T THEY HAVE

ANY ONE COME NEAR THEM NOW?"

"What? WON'T THEY HAVE ANY ONE COME NEAR THEM?"

"AND THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH THEM!"

"Really? Have you noticed THAT THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH THEM?

That is certainly odd!"

"Oh, so you admit it! And high time, too! And THEN, THEY WALK

BACKWARD!"

"BACKWARD! You have seen our managers WALK BACKWARD? Why, I thought

that only crabs walked backward!"

"Don't laugh, Gabriel; don't laugh!"

"I'm not laughing," protested Gabriel, looking as solemn as a judge.

"Perhaps you can tell me this, Gabriel, as you're an intimate friend of

the management: When I went up to M. Richard, outside the foyer,

during the Garden interval, with my hand out before me, why did M.

Moncharmin hurriedly whisper to me, 'Go away! Go away! Whatever you

do, don't touch M. le Directeur!' Am I supposed to have an infectious

disease?"

"It's incredible!"

"And, a little later, when M. de La Borderie went up to M. Richard,

didn't you see M. Moncharmin fling himself between them and hear him

exclaim, 'M. l'Ambassadeur I entreat you not to touch M. le Directeur'?"

"It's terrible! ... And what was Richard doing meanwhile?"

"What was he doing? Why, you saw him! He turned about, BOWED IN FRONT

OF HIM, THOUGH THERE WAS NOBODY IN FRONT OF HIM, AND WITHDREW BACKWARD."

"BACKWARD?"

"And Moncharmin, behind Richard, also turned about; that is, he

described a semicircle behind Richard and also WALKED BACKWARD! ... And

they went LIKE THAT to the staircase leading to the managers' office:

BACKWARD, BACKWARD, BACKWARD! ... Well, if they are not mad, will you

explain what it means?"

"Perhaps they were practising a figure in the ballet," suggested

Gabriel, without much conviction in his voice.




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