She found Pradel in his office with a couple of young actresses, one of whom was soliciting an engagement, the other, leave of absence.
He refused, in conformity with his principle never to grant a request until he had first refused it.

In this way he bestowed a value upon his most trifling concessions.

His glistening eyes and his patriarchal beard, his manner, at once amorous and paternal, gave him a resemblance to Lot, as we see him between his two daughters in the prints of the Old Masters.

Standing on the table was an amphora of gilt pasteboard which fostered this illusion.
"It can't be done," he was telling each of them.

"It really can't be done, my child----Well, after all, look in to-morrow." Having dismissed them, he inquired, as he signed some letters: "Well, Madame Doulce, what news do you bring ?" Constantin Marc, appearing with Nanteuil, hastily exclaimed: "What about my scenery, Monsieur Pradel ?" Thereupon he described for the twentieth time the landscape, upon which the curtain ought to rise.
"In the foreground, an old park.