I do not--I cannot--offer you money. But I can gratify
a laudable ambition. Hitherto you have ranked only as an _accessoire_;
from this time forward you are an actor. I give you the right of
entering the _grand foyer_. You are permitted to call Monsieur
Lemaitre _mon camarade_; to _tutoyer_ Mademoiselle Theodorine. I am
sure, Monsieur Fombonne, that you will thoroughly appreciate the
distinction I have conferred upon you."
Monsieur Fombonne was delighted. He was subsequently to discover,
however, that some disadvantages attended his new dignity; that the
medal he had won had its reverse. The _accessoires_ and _figurants_ of
the theatre always received their salaries on the first day of each
month. The _artistes_ were not paid until the sixth or seventh day.
Monsieur Fombonne had to live upon credit for a week as the price of
his new privileges. His gain was shadowy; his loss substantial.
With the choristers proper we are not here much concerned. They are
not fairly to be classed among "supers," and they pertain almost
exclusively to the lyric stage. It is to be noted, however, that they
are in some sort evidence of the connection that once existed between
the Church and the Theatre; the ecclesiastical and the laical drama.
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