der what he really thinks about it himself," she remarked.

"Perhaps I'll ask him."

But when the time came, and he sat in the box with Laverick and Zoe,
he forgot everything else in the joy of watching the woman whom he
had loved so long. She moved about the stage that night as though
her feet indeed fell upon the air. She appeared to be singing
always with restraint, yet with some new power in her voice, a
quality which even in her simpler notes left the great audience
thrilled. Already there was a rumor that it was her last appearance.
Her marriage to Bellamy had been that day announced in the Morning
Post. When, in the last act, she sang alone on the stage the famous
love song, it seemed to them all that although her voice trembled
more than once, it was a new thing to which they listened. Zoe
found herself clasping Laverick's hand in tremulous excitement.
Bellamy sat like a statue, a little back in the box, his clean-cut
face thrown into powerful relief by the shadows beyond. Yet, as
he listened, his eyes, too, were marvelously soft. The song grew
and grew till, with the last notes, the whole story of an exquisite
and expectant passion seemed trembling in her voice. The last note
came from her lips almost as though unwillingly, and was prolonged
for an extraordinary period. When it died away, its passing seemed
something almost unrealizable. It quivered away into a silence
which lasted for many seconds before the gathering roar of applause
swept the house. And in those last few seconds she had turned and
faced Bellamy. Their eyes met, and the light which flashed from
his seemed answered by the quivering of her throat. It was her
good-bye. She was singing a new love-song, singing her way into
the life of the man whom she loved, singing her way into love
itself. Once more the great house, packed to the ceiling, was worked
up to a state of frenzied excitement. Bellamy was recognized, and
the significance of her song sent a wave of sentiment through the
house whose only possible form of expression took to itself shape in
the frantic greetings which called her to the front again and again.
But the three in the box were silent. Bellamy stood back in the
shadows. Laverick and Zoe seemed suddenly to become immersed in
themselves. Bellamy threw open the door of the box and pointed
outside.

"At Luigi's in half-an-hour," said he softly. "You will excuse me
for a few minutes? I am going to Louise."