Dressed with the careless ease of a theatre man, du Bruel wore, in the morning, trousers strapped under his feet, shoes with gaiters, a waistcoat evidently vamped over, an olive surtout, and a black cravat.

At night he played the gentleman in elegant clothes.
He lived, for good reasons, in the same house as Florine, an actress for whom he wrote plays.

Du Bruel, or to give him his pen name, Cursy, was working just now at a piece in five acts for the Francais.

Sebastien was devoted to the author,--who occasionally gave him tickets to the pit,--and applauded his pieces at the parts which du Bruel told him were of doubtful interest, with all the faith and enthusiasm of his years.

In fact, the youth looked upon the playwright as a great author, and it was to Sebastien that du Bruel said, the day after a first representation of a vaudeville produced, like all vaudevilles, by three collaborators, "The audience preferred the scenes written by two." "Why don't you write alone ?" asked Sebastien naively.
There were good reasons why du Bruel did not write alone.