Carlotta made her entrance.
"I wish I could but know who was he That addressed me, If he was noble, or, at least, what his name is ..." When Margarita had finished singing the ballad of the KING OF THULE, she was loudly cheered and again when she came to the end of the jewel song: "Ah, the joy of past compare These jewels bright to wear! ..." Thenceforth, certain of herself, certain of her friends in the house, certain of her voice and her success, fearing nothing, Carlotta flung herself into her part without restraint of modesty ...

She was no longer Margarita, she was Carmen.

She was applauded all the more; and her debut with Faust seemed about to bring her a new success, when suddenly ...

a terrible thing happened.
Faust had knelt on one knee: "Let me gaze on the form below me, While from yonder ether blue Look how the star of eve, bright and tender, lingers o'er me, To love thy beauty too!" And Margarita replied: "Oh, how strange! Like a spell does the evening bind me! And a deep languid charm I feel without alarm With its melody enwind me And all my heart subdue." At that moment, at that identical moment, the terrible thing happened...

Carlotta croaked like a toad: "Co-ack!" There was consternation on Carlotta's face and consternation on the faces of all the audience.