Page:Rachel (1887 Nina H. Kennard).djvu/80

 a very handsome person of but mediocre talent. In Racine's play, she comes on in the scene before Hermione. The English public, seeing Mademoiselle Larcher, thought it was Rachel, and greeted her with thunders of applause, which quite bewildered the poor girl, unaccustomed to any demonstration of the kind. When the real attraction of the evening appeared, aware of their error, the audience gave her a still more enthusiastic reception, which was repeated every time she acted. By the following letter, written to M. Carré a few days after her arrival, we can see the favourable impression made by the warmth with which she was welcomed:—

In no particular did the actress exaggerate the success she had achieved or the enthusiasm she created. Her enemies in Paris declared her triumph to be the result of tripotage, and, in a pamphlet published about this time, called La Vérité Rachel, M. Maurice the author says:—