using money with such large grandeur.

And withal she was most horribly nervous, just as nervous as though it was
she who was doomed to face the indifferent and exacting audience with
nothing but a violin bow for weapon. She was so nervous that she could not
listen, could not even follow Miss Ingate's simple remarks; she heard them
as from a long distance, and grasped them after a long interval. Still, she
was uplifted, doughty, and proud. The humiliation of the afternoon had
vanished like a mist. Nay, she felt glad that Musa had behaved to her just
as he did behave. His mien pleased her; his wounding words, each of which
she clearly remembered, were a source of delight. She had never admired him
so much. She had now no resentment against him. He had proved that her
hopes of him were, after all, well justified. He would succeed. Only some
silly and improbable accident could stop him from succeeding. She was not
nervous about his success. She was nervous for him. She became him. She
tuned his fiddle, gathered herself together and walked on to the platform,
bowed to the dim multitudinous heads in front of him, looked at the
conductor, waited for the opening bars, drew his bow across his strings at
precisely the correct second, and heard the resulting sound under her ear.
And all that before the conductor had appeared! Such were the
manifestations of her purely personal desire for the achievement of a neat,
clean job.

"See!" said Miss Ingate. "Mr. Gilman is bowing to us. He does look
splendid, and isn't Madame Piriac lovely? I must say I don't care so much
for these French husbands."

Audrey had to turn and join Miss Ingate in acknowledging the elaborate bow.
At any rate, then, Mr. Gilman had not been utterly estranged by her
capricious abandonment of him. And why should he be? He was a man of sense;
he would understand perfectly when she explained to-morrow. Further, he
was her slave. She was sure of him. She would apologise to him. She would
richly recompense him by smiles and honey and charming persuasive
simplicity. And he would see that with all her innocent and modest
ingenuousness she was capable of acting seriously and effectively in a
sudden crisis. She would rise higher in his esteem. As for the foreseen
proposal, well----

A sporadic clapping wakened her out of those reflections. The conductor
was approaching his desk. The orchestra applauded him. He tapped the desk
and raised his stick. And there was a lo