sponded quietly. "What would be the
concrete application of your theory to my practice?"

"That you should try to fulfil the ambition your old master has for
you," she returned. "Why don't you try it? You can't gain any more glory
in your present field; you stand at the head of concert and oratorio
singers in America. You have nothing to lose; and, over there in Berlin,
there is an old man who boasts that he made your voice, and says that he
can never sing his _Nunc Dimittis_ until you have entered upon your
right path."

Thayer's face softened.

"Did he say that?"

"Yes, and he extorted a promise from me that I would tell you his very
words. That is the reason I have made bold to speak about the matter."

"What do you think about it, yourself, Mrs. Lorimer?"

"That he knows your possibilities much better than I," she answered
evasively.

"But you have an opinion," he urged.

"Yes, I have," she replied frankly. "From what he told me, and from what
I have heard of your singing, I know that you can do broader work than
any you have attempted. Your voice will do for either thing, opera or
oratorio; but on a few times--" she hesitated; then she went on without
flinching; "on the night of the Fresh Air Fund concert, for instance,
you showed a dramatic power that is wasted in your present work."
Suddenly she laughed at her own earnestness. "What am I, that I should
advise the star of the season? Do excuse my frankness, Mr. Thayer."

"I asked you."

"That's no reason I should bore you with all my theories upon a subject
of which I know practically nothing. And, meanwhile, I am forgetting to
tell you that we went to see Frau Arlt."

His face showed his pleasure and his approval, his pleasure that he had
found something in Lorimer to which he could give his unreserved
approval.

"I am glad you saw her. It was like Lorimer to hunt her up. Does Otto
know about it?"

"He came to dinner, a day or two after we landed. Mr. Lorimer had
written him a note to tell him we were at home, and you should have seen
the boy's delight over the box of funny little odds and ends his mother
had sent him. Sidney is always so thoughtful, and he suggested to the
old lady that we had room in our trunks for a package. I really think
that the boy was happier with his home-made gifts than I was with the
things Mr. Lorimer gave me in Paris."

[Illustration: "It was so that Thayer liked best to think of her"]

"He has been a very brave,