They had extinguished the line of gas jets on the facade of the theater, and it was dark and very cool on the balcony, which seemed to them unoccupied.

Solitary and enveloped in shadow, a young man was standing, leaning his arms on the stone balustrade, in the recess to the right.

He was smoking a cigarette, of which the burning end shone redly.
Fauchery recognized Daguenet.

They shook hands warmly.
"What are you after there, my dear fellow ?" asked the journalist.
"You're hiding yourself in holes and crannies--you, a man who never leaves the stalls on a first night!" "But I'm smoking, you see," replied Daguenet.
Then Fauchery, to put him out of countenance: "Well, well! What's your opinion of the new actress?
She's being roughly handled enough in the passages." "Bah!" muttered Daguenet.

"They're people whom she'll have had nothing to do with!" That was the sum of his criticism of Nana's talent.