Entering in the half-light, the count had paused at the back of the
stage, for he hesitated to interrupt the quarrel. But Bordenave caught
sight of him and ran forward.
"Aren't they a pretty lot?" he muttered. "You can have no idea what I've
got to undergo with that lot, Monsieur le Comte. Each man's vainer than
his neighbor, and they're wretched players all the same, a scabby lot,
always mixed up in some dirty business or other! Oh, they'd be delighted
if I were to come to smash. But I beg pardon--I'm getting beside
myself."
He ceased speaking, and silence reigned while Muffat sought how to
broach his announcement gently. But he failed and, in order to get out
of his difficulty the more quickly, ended by an abrupt announcement:
"Nana wants the duchess's part."
Bordenave gave a start and shouted:
"Come now, it's sheer madness!"
Then looking at the count and finding him so pale and so shaken, he was
calm at once.
"Devil take it!" he said simply.
And with that there ensued a fresh silence. At bottom he didn't care a
pin about it. That great thing Nana playing the duchess might possibly
prove amusing! Besides, now that this had happened he had Muffat well in
his grasp.
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