The actor made a significant grimace.

The conqueror of Asia seemed to him to be wanting in actuality.

And leaning toward his wife, Caterna hastened to say: "As a scene, I have seen a better at the Porte-Saint Martin, in the _Fils de la Nuit_--" "And I have at the Chatelet in _Michael Strogoff_." We cannot do better than leave our comedians alone.

They look at everything from the theatrical point of view.

They prefer the air gauze and the sky-blue foliage, the branches of the stage trees, the agitated canvas of the ocean waves, the prospectives of the drop scene, to the sites the curtain represents, a set scene by Cambon or Rube or Jambon to no matter what landscape; in short, they would rather have art than nature.