And he did not forget the one
who had so strangely underestimated him. (A friend, who judged him
solely on the strength of his excellent handwriting, declared, when the
question arose of choosing a position for him, that he would never make
anything better than a good shipping clerk.)
"The friends arrived, and the solemn test began. But the reader's
enthusiasm rapidly died out as he discovered how little impression he
was making and noted the coldness or the consternation on the faces
before him. I was one of those who shared in the consternation. What I
suffered during that reading was a foretaste of the terrors I was
destined to experience at the opening performances of Vautrin and
Quinola.
"With Cromwell he had not yet avenged himself upon M. -- (the friend of
whom mention has just been made); for, blunt as ever, the latter
pronounced his opinion of the tragedy in the most uncompromising terms.
Honore protested, and declined to accept his judgment; but his other
auditors, though in milder terms, all agreed that the work was
extremely faulty.
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