CHAPTER III
THE GRAND PRIZE
For the first fortnight of the new year, things
went swimmingly at the Imperial Theater, and
several times the nightly receipts were over three
hundred francs. Duvernet wrote and produced
a new play, in which he took the part of Alexander
the Great; and it was a screaming success. Fifi
as Queen Roxana was simply stunning, wearing
her alleged diamond brooch in a tiara made by her
own hands, of beautiful glass beads. The merry
war between Julie Campionet and herself went on
as noisily as ever, but there was more noise than
malignity about it. When Julie was ill with a
cold, Fifi went and cooked Julie's dinner for her;
and when Fifi needed a scepter for her part of
Queen Roxana, Julie Campionet sent her a very
nice parasol handle with a glass knob at the top
which made a lovely scepter.
But they did not, for these trifles, deny themselves the pleasure of quarreling, and Duvernet was
