Chapter VI

Rachel and some of her fellow-actors -- Rachel's true character
-- Her greediness and spitefulness -- Her vanity and her wit --
Her powers of fascination -- The cost of being fascinated by her
-- Her manner of levying toll -- Some of her victims, Comte
Duchatel and Dr. Veron -- The story of her guitar -- A little
transaction between her and M. Fould -- Her supposed charity and
generosity -- Ten tickets for a charity concert -- How she made
them into twenty -- How she could have made them into a hundred
-- Baron Taylor puzzled -- Her manner of giving presents --
Beauvallet's precaution with regard to one of her gifts --
Alexandre Dumas the younger, wiser or perhaps not so wise in his
generation -- Rachel as a raconteuse -- The story of her _debut_
at the Gymnase -- What Rachel would have been as an actor instead
of an actress -- Her comic genius -- Rachel's mother -- What
became of Rachel's money -- Mama Felix as a pawnbroker --
Rachel's trinkets -- Two curious bracelets -- Her first
appearance before Nicholas I. -- A dramatic recital in the open
air -- Rachel's opinion of the handsomest man in Europe -- Rachel
and Samson -- Her obligations to him -- How she repays them --
How she goes to Berryer to be coached in the fable of "The Two
Pigeons" -- An anecdote of Berryer -- Rachel's fear of a "warm
reception" on the first night of "Adrienne Lecouvreur" -- How she
averts the danger -- Samson as a man and as an actor --
Petticoat-revolts at the Comedie-Francaise -- Samson and Regnier
as buffers -- Their different ways of pouring oil upon the
troubled waters -- Mdlle. Sylvanie Plessy -- A parallel between
her and Sarah Bernhardt -- Samson and Regnier's pride in their
profession -- The different character of that pride -- "Apollo
with a bad tailor, and who dresses without a looking-glass" --
Samson gives a lesson in declamation to a procureur-imperial --
The secret of Regnier's greatness as an actor -- A lesson at the
Conservatoire -- Regnier on "make-up" -- Regnier's opinion of
genius on the stage -- A mot of Augustine Brohan -- Giovanni, the
wigmaker of the Comedie-Francaise -- His pride in his profession
-- M. Ancessy, the musical director, and his three wigs 128