[B] The same word--_souffler_--means to prompt, and to blow or puff.
"Mamma, have you noticed that Monsieur Kingerie has an entirely different voice when he sings, from the one he has when he talks?"
"That's true, but it's very lucky for him; when he talks, he always sounds as if he were hoarse; whereas, when he sings, he has a little clear, flutelike voice, so shrill that it is hard to believe that it is he who is singing.--Then we shall have Monsieur Camuzard and his daughter, Mademoiselle Polymnie, who also wants to act."
"You must give her a part; she's a very handsome woman, tall and well-built and stylish!"
"She did her little s--s--soubrette part very badly the l--l--last time, although she had only a few words to say: 'M--m--madame, the company is below in the salon'; and she said: 'Madame, the s--s--salon is below in the c--c--company!'"
"That was because her tongue slipped! But it doesn't make it any the less true that Mademoiselle Polymnie looks very well on the stage."
"Big noses do very well on the stage. Besides, I tell you again, daughter, that I desire to be polite to Monsieur Camuzard, and I know that it gives him great pleasure when his daughter acts." And Monsieur Glumeau added, with a glance at his wife: "We must try to make Astianax act a lover's part, and let Mademoiselle Polymnie be the sweetheart. You understand my ideas and my plans, don't you, Lolotte?"
"Yes, monsieur, they are not hard to understand. Mademoiselle Camuzard would be an excellent match, I know; but Astianax is still so young!"
"I married very young myself, madame, and I have never repented it."
"Ah! that's the nicest thing you have said to-day!"
"It seems to me that I say nice things very often; but you don't notice them because you are used to them.--This tea has done me good; I feel as light as a bird; I would like to dance a mazurka.--Speaking of dancing, Eolinde, have you practised on your piano the new quadrilles that I brought you?"
"No, mademoiselle, it's because you don't choose to take the pains to study; and you are all the more wrong in that, because everybody plays the piano now; young men and young girls, everybody knows how to play for dancing; the young woman who did not know how to play a quadrille in company would be looked upon as a savage, as a Hottentot!"