In a letter addressed to his family in the Acera del Casino, written in the days prior to the premiere of El maleficio de la mariposa (The Butterfly’s Evil Spell), Federico gives an account of the process of mounting the play and refers to the first reading of the complete manuscript: “The day before yesterday was the final reading before the entire company and a somewhat increased number of young mediocre writers who had entered because they knew me. I do not need to tell you that I do not care about the success of the work before the public because the triumph I had before the company is the strongest success I have had in my short literary life. La Argentinita, who is indeed a very nice and smart girl, gave herself an upset stomach from crying and in the last act almost all the girls and some young men had tears in their eyes”.