Sarah BERNHARDT (1844-1923). LA.S., [summer 1885], to Raoul Ponchon; 9pages in-12 with her cipher and motto. Beautiful, witty letter from a tour of Belgium. She begins by telling him of the pleasure she takes in reading his letters first thing in the morning, after which she gets up in high spirits... "Tonight is the 1st performance of Théodora [by Sardou] at your good neighbors'. I'm already very tired, as we rehearsed until two in the morning, with rehearsals of foaming rage. [...] This evening I'll have supper with Frédérix and Madame Marie Laurent, whom I'm trying to bring to my hotel, because since Marie Julien left [...] I've been eating alone, and that makes me sad sad. I think of you, I adore Jean [Richepin, her lover at the time] and I dream of happiness while waiting for it to come. To dream it is already to have it a little"... She thinks about going to the Wirtz museum, and says she has so many "funny ideas in her head for short stories" that she can't formulate a single one. Then she talks about her troupe: Léon Marais, who "leans his voice against his throat and lets out new phrases for posterity and Bruxelles l'inspire"; Paul Reney, "more stupid, more talkative and more of a liar"; Philippe Garnier, "very bad under his round hat"; Marie Laurent, who is 15 and has "little hats like an eight-year-old"; Marie Jolliet, who has bought a costume that is too tight "and her fat posterior stretches her skirt to bursting"; and Léon Jolliet, who was absent from the first rehearsal: "I soaped his head in such a way as to leave him in no doubt as to my love of cleanliness"...Attached is a L.A.S. to the same author (1885; 1 page and a quarter in-12) after his break with Jean Richepin: "You know my affection for you. I know your affection for him. He surely forbade you to see me so that you would give me the grief of not coming"...