"This evening, Richard and Moncharmin were behaving like lunatics,
here, between the acts."

"I never noticed it," growled Gabriel, very much annoyed.

"Then you're the only one! ... Do you think that I didn't see them? ...
And that M. Parabise, the manager of the Credit Central, noticed
nothing? ... And that M. de La Borderie, the ambassador, has no eyes to
see with? ... Why, all the subscribers were pointing at our managers!"

"But what were our managers doing?" asked Gabriel, putting on his most
innocent air.

"What were they doing? You know better than any one what they were
doing! ... You were there! ... And you were watching them, you and
Mercier! ... And you were the only two who didn't laugh."

"I don't understand!"

Gabriel raised his arms and dropped them to his sides again, which
gesture was meant to convey that the question did not interest him in
the least. Remy continued:

"What is the sense of this new mania of theirs? WHY WON'T THEY HAVE
ANY ONE COME NEAR THEM NOW?"

"What? WON'T THEY HAVE ANY ONE COME NEAR THEM?"

"AND THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH THEM!"

"Really? Have you noticed THAT THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH THEM?
That is certainly odd!"

"Oh, so you admit it! And high time, too! And THEN, THEY WALK
BACKWARD!"

"BACKWARD! You have seen our managers WALK BACKWARD? Why, I thought
that only crabs walked backward!"

"Don't laugh, Gabriel; don't laugh!"

"I'm not laughing," protested Gabriel, looking as solemn as a judge.

"Perhaps you can tell me this, Gabriel, as you're an intimate friend of
the management: When I went up to M. Richard, outside the foyer,
during the Garden interval, with my hand out before me, why did M.
Moncharmin hurriedly whisper to me, 'Go away! Go away! Whatever you
do, don't touch M. le Directeur!' Am I supposed to have an infectious
disease?"

"It's incredible!"

"And, a little later, when M. de La Borderie went up to M. Richard,
didn't you see M. Moncharmin fling himself between them and hear him
exclaim, 'M. l'Ambassadeur I entreat you not to touch M. le Directeur'?"

"It's terrible! ... And what was Richard doing meanwhile?"

"What was he doing? Why, you saw him! He turned about, BOWED IN FRONT
OF HIM, THOUGH THERE WAS NOBODY IN FRONT OF HIM, AND WITHDREW BACKWARD."

"BACKWARD?"

"And Moncharmin, behind Richard, also turned about; that is, he
described a semicircle behind Richard and also WALKED BACKWARD! ... And
they went LIKE T