midnight
She scarcely has time for food . When she plays , an actress can live no life of her own ; she can neither dress , nor eat , nor talk . Florine often has no time to sup . On returning from a play , which lasts , in these days , till after midnight , she does not get to bed before two in the morning ; but she must rise early to study her part , order her dresses , try them on , breakfast , read her love-letters , answer them , discuss with the leader of the `` claque '' the place for the plaudits , pay for the triumphs of the last month in solid cash , and bespeak those of the month ahead . In the days of Saint-Genest , the canonized comedian who fulfilled his duties in a pious manner and wore a hair shirt , we must suppose that an actor 's life did not demand this incessant activity . Sometimes Florine , seized with a bourgeois desire to get out into the country and gather flowers , pretends to the manager that she is ill . But even these mechanical operations are nothing in comparison with the intrigues to be carried on , the pains of wounded vanity to be endured , -- preferences shown by authors , parts taken away or given to others , exactions of the male actors , spite of rivals , naggings of the stage manager , struggles with journalists ; all of which require another twelve hours to the day .