near, playing a dirge-like
accompaniment to Raphael's and my voice.

"The recital lasted for nearly an hour; if I had liked I could have kept
them there the whole night, for never in my career have I had such an
attentive, such a religiously attentive, audience. The King was the
first to notice my fatigue, and he gave the signal for my leaving off by
coming up and thanking me for my efforts. The Emperor followed his
example, and stood chatting to me for a long while. In a few minutes I
was the centre of a circle which I am not likely to forget as long as I
live. Then came the question how Raphael and I were to get back to
Berlin. The last train was gone. But Schneider simply suggested a
special, and a mounted messenger was despatched then and there to order
it. After everything had been arranged for my comfortable return, the
sovereigns departed as they had come, only this time the yacht, as well
as the others on the lake, were splendidly illuminated. This was my
first appearance before Nicholas I."

There was no man to whom Rachel owed more than to Samson, or even as
much; but for him, and in spite of her incontestable genius, the
Comedie-Francais might have remained closed to her for many years, if
not forever. Frederick Lemaitre and Marie Dorval were undoubtedly, in
their own way, as great as she, yet the blue riband of their profession
never fell to their lot. And yet, when she had reached the topmost rung
of the ladder of fame, Rachel was very often not only ungrateful to him,
but her ingratitude showed itself in mean, spiteful tricks. When
Legouve's "Adrienne Lecouvreur" was being cast, Samson, who had forgiven
Rachel over and over again, was on such cool terms with her that the
authors feared he would not accept the part of the Prince de Bouillon.
Nevertheless, Samson, than whom there was not a more honourable and
conscientious man, on or off the stage, accepted; he would not let his
resentment interfere with what he considered his duty to the institution
of which he was so eminent a member. This alone ought to have been
sufficient to heal the breach between the tutor and the pupil; any woman
with the least spark of generosity, in the position of Rachel towards
Samson, would have taken the first step towards a reconciliation.
Rachel, as will be seen directly, was perfectly conscious of what she
ought to do under the circumstances; she was too great an actress not to
have studied the finer feelings of the human h