high dudgeon, only to suffer still further, for a severely inflamed throat necessitated the cutting of her tonsils; and for months she remained at home in enforced idleness.
Disheartened, but animated still oy one idea, one passion, as soon as she was able to speak again she went to her old friend Saint Aulaire, who promised to do what he could for her. Like all their nationality, Rachel's family were superstitious: Madame Félix told fortunes by cards. "I often cried as a child," Rachel would say in later years, "when my mother predicted ill-luck." This evening when she returned to the wretched garret they inhabited in the Rue des Lions-Saint Paul, she asked her mother to tell her fortune. It turned out a brilliant one, and the little girl went to bed full of hopes for the future. Next day she received a message that M. Poirson, manager of the Gymnase Theatre, wished to see her, on the recommendation of M. Saint Aulaire. She went, accompanied by her father, and gave such satisfaction by her acting of the part of Éryphile that Poirson immediately offered to engage her. The following account of the interview is given by M. de Mirecourt:—
"What salary do you expect, Mademoiselle?" asked Poirson.
The young girl looked at her father, who hastened to answer in his German-French patois, "Nous falons teux mille vrancs, gomme un liard."
"You are worth more than that," said Poirson; "I will give you three thousand, with an annual increase of a third of this sum, if you succeed at my theatre."
"Dres pien! che signe dout te suite!" cried old Félix, astonished at this good fortune.
"We must now decide what name Mademoiselle will
