d the choicest
Tokay, but because it's now full of brandy!" stammered Glas in a
drunken voice.

"The Warsaw Theater! My God! with the exception of two or three
persons it's full of the scum of the profession which the provinces
no longer could stand."

"Just let the press give us the support it gives them, let it insert
half a column daily about us and round up the public for us each day
as it does for them! . . ."

"Well, what then? . . . Even at that you'd remain nothing but
Wawrzecki!" sneered Kotlicki.

"Yes, but the public would come and see that Wawrzecki is not a bit
worse and perhaps a great deal better actor than those patented
celebrities."

"Let me speak!" whimpered Glas, vainly trying to rise from his chair
and steady himself.

"The public! . . . the public is a flock of sheep which runs where
it is driven by the shepherds."

"Don't say that, Topolski . . ."

"Don't try to deny it, Kotlicki! I tell you that the public is a
pack of fools, but its leaders are even greater fools!"

"Let me speak," mumbled Glas in a voice that was already growing
inaudible, while he leaned on the table and gazed at the candles
with hazy eyes.

"Glas, go to sleep, for you're drunk," said Topolski sharply.

"I am drunk? . . . I am drunk? . . ." stuttered Glas, his face as
ruddy as the dawn.

The wine and liquors circulated more freely, and the guests began
shifting their seats.

Wladek seated himself between Majkowska and the landlady, embarking
on a flirtation with the latter. Mimi, growing exhilarated,
approached Kaczkowska, with whom she had already exchanged glances
and friendly words across the table. They now sat close together,
holding each other about the waist like the sincerest friends.

Janina, who had been answering Kotlicki only in brief sentences,
preoccupied with what she saw and heard about her glanced at him
with an amazed and questioning look.

"You are surprised?" he asked.

"Yes, for not so long ago they were so angry at one another."

"Bosh! that was only a little comedy, played fairly well in their
momentary mood . . ."

"A comedy? . . . and I thought that . . ."

"That they would begin to pull each other's hair, no doubt . . . for
even that sometimes happens behind the stage between the best of
friends and actors. From what planet have you dropped down that
these people surprise you so greatly? . . ."

"I came from the country where one hears hardly anything about
artists, only