how I should find my cab. I felt very lonely and
unknown; I was overcome with sadness--with a sense of the futility and
frustration of my life. Such is the logic of the soul, and such the force
of reaction. Gradually the foyer emptied.

III

'You think I am happy,' said Diaz, gazing at me with a smile
suddenly grave; 'but I am not. I seek something which I cannot find.
And my playing is only a relief from the fruitless search; only
that. I am forlorn.'

'You!' I exclaimed, and my eyes rested on his, long.

Yes, we had met. Perhaps it had been inevitable since the beginning of
time that we should meet; but it was none the less amazing. Perhaps I had
inwardly known that we should meet; but, none the less, I was astounded
when a coated and muffled figure came up swiftly to me in the emptying
foyer, and said: 'Ah! you are here! I cannot leave without thanking you
for your sympathy. I have never before felt such sympathy while playing.'
It was a golden voice, pitched low, and the words were uttered with a
very slight foreign accent, which gave them piquancy. I could not reply;
something rose in my throat, and the caressing voice continued: 'You are
pale. Do you feel ill? What can I do? Come with me to the artists' room;
my secretary is there.' I put out a hand gropingly, for I could not see
clearly, and I thought I should reel and fall. It touched his shoulder.
He took my arm, and we went; no one had noticed us, and I had not spoken
a word. In the room to which he guided me, through a long and sombre
corridor, there was no sign of a secretary. I drank some water. 'There,
you are better!' he cried. 'Thank you,' I said, but scarcely whispering.
'How fortunate I ventured to come to you just at that moment! You might
have fallen'; and he smiled again. I shook my head. I said: 'It was your
coming--that--that--made me dizzy!' 'I profoundly regret--' he began.
'No, no,' I interrupted him; and in that instant I knew I was about to
say something which society would, justifiably, deem unpardonable in a
girl situated as I was. 'I am so glad you came'; and I smiled, courageous
and encouraging. For once in my life--for the first time in my adult
life--I determined to be my honest self to another. 'Your voice is
exquisitely beautiful,' he murmured. I thrilled.

Of what use to chronicle the steps, now halting, now only too hasty, by
which our intimacy progressed in that gaunt and echoing room? He asked me
no questions as to m