Page:Rachel (1887 Nina H. Kennard).djvu/25

 Rachel obtained an engagement at the Comédie Française to play children's parts at a salary of eight hundred francs a year. The rôle of her début was even decided on, Louison in La Fausse Agnès; she rehearsed; her dress was ordered, made, and tried on; and then, for some reason which has never been explained, and of which the theatre does not even possess a trace, this first engagement was never fulfilled, and Rachel went off to the Conservatoire.

Here she did not seem to obtain the notice she merited, and made little progress. Samson, then at the height of his reputation, saw her, but refrained from expressing an opinion as to her powers; Michelet declared her voice to be so unmusical as to unfit her for the stage; and Provost—the harsh and violent Provost—informed her in the most offensive manner, after one lesson, that she was only fit to do what she had done before—sell flowers in the streets. The story goes, that some months later, having played Hermione to a crowded house, and having been recalled with storms of applause to receive a perfect ovation of flowers, she bent down, picked up some, and, filling her Greek tunic with them, approached Provost, and with saucy grace held it out, saying, "I have followed your advice, M. Provost, I am selling bouquets, will you buy?"

Meantime, neglected and despised, the poor girl worked on until an insult was put upon her, by the professors, which she would not bear. Tartuffe had been announced for representation by the pupils; she was assigned the part of Flipote the servant-girl, who simply appears upon the scene in the first act, that her ears may be boxed by Madame Pernelle. Humiliation could no further go, and she left the Conservatoire in