I read by chance in an old Bible this wonderful phrase, "And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth," and so I proposed to Gallet that we do a Deluge.

At first he wanted to introduce characters.

"No," I said, "put the Bible narrative into simple verse, and I will do the rest." We know with what care and success he accomplished his delicate task.

Meanwhile he gave Massenet the texts for _Marie-Madeleine_ and _Le Roi de Lahore_, and these two works created a great stir in the operatic world.
We had dreams of historical opera, for we were quite without the prejudice against this form of drama which afflicts the present school.
But I was not _persona grata_ to the managers and I did not know at what door to knock, when one of my friends, Aime Gros, took the management of the Grand-Theatre at Lyons and asked me for a work.

This was a fine opportunity and we grasped it.