Our Salome, Martha Duvivier, had continued to sing the rôle in _Hérodiade_ throughout the new season, and had installed herself for the summer in a country house near Brussels. My friend Frédérix carried me off there one day and, as I had the manuscript of the first acts of _Manon_ with me, I risked an intimate reading before him and our beautiful interpreter. The impression I took away with me was an encouragement to keep on with the work.
The reason I returned to Belgium at this time was that I had been invited to go to Holland under conditions which were certainly amusing.
A Dutch gentleman, a great lover of music, with phlegm more apparent than real, as is often the case with those Rembrandt's country sends us, made me the most singular visit, as unexpected as it well could be. He had learned that I was working on the romance of the Abbé Prevost, and he offered to install my penates at the Hague, in the very room in which the Abbé had lived. I accepted the offer, and I went and shut myself up--this was during the summer of 1882--in the room which the author of _Les Memories d'un homme de qualité_ had occupied. His bed, a great cradle, shaped like a gondola, was still there.
The days slipped by at the Hague in dreaming and strolling over the dunes of Schleveningin or in the woods around the royal residence. There I made delightfully exquisite little friends of the deer who brought me the fresh breath of their damp muzzles.
It was now the spring of 1883. I had returned to Paris and, as the work was finished, an appointment was made at M. Carvalho's. I found there our director, Mme. Miolan Carvalho, Meilhac, and Philippe Gille. _Manon_ was read from nine in the evening until midnight. My friends appeared to be delighted.
Mme. Carvalho embraced me joyfully, and kept repeating,
"Would that I were twenty years younger!"
I consoled the great artiste as best I could. I wanted her name on the score and I dedicated it to her.
We had to find a heroine and many names were suggested. The male rôles were taken by Talazac, Taskin and Cobalet--a superb cast. But no choice could be made for Manon. Many had talent, it was true, and even great fame, but I did not feel that a single artist answered for the part as I wanted it and could play the perfidious darling Manon with all the heart I had put into her.