Book Three Unit Twenty-two

Some plays are so successful that they run for years on end. Because of this, actors
are expected to learn their lines and articulate them eloquently. Yet this is not always
the case. A famous actor in a highly successul play was once cast in the role of an
aristocrat who had been imprsioned in the Bastile for twenty years. In the last act, the
aristocrat was expected to read the letter sent by a gaoler. Even though he had read
the letter for many times, the noble always insisted that it should be written out in full.
One night, at the last performance, the gaoler eagerly wondered whether his colleague had managed to learn the contents of the letter by heart. So he presented the aristocrat with a blank sheet of paper. The noble stared at this blank sheet of paper for a few
seconds. Then he pretended to the gaoler that he was unable to read the letter in the
failing light and therefore quickly handed the sheet of paper to the gaoler. Finding that
he could not remember a word of the letter either, the gaoler alleged that he had to get his pair of glasses to help him read the letter. Several minutes later, the gaole
appeared with a pair of glasses and the usual copy of the letter which he proceeded to read to the aristocrat.