ueen.

One afternoon Hilda went back to the dressing-room. In the darkness of
the corridor she ran against some one--a man. As she turned to
apologize she was caught up in a pair of strong arms and kissed. It was
all over in the tick of the clock, and then she ran--ran into the room,
frightened, indignant, her face burning.

Her mother's back was toward her, she was preparing for the last act of
"Walkuere." She knew Hilda's footsteps. The girl threw herself on a couch
and covered her hot face with the cushions. The woman hummed "Ho, jo
to-ho!" and continued dressing. And then came her call.

Hilda sat and thought. She must tell--she would tell her. But the man,
what of him? She knew who it was, knew it by intuition. She did not see
his face, but she knew the man. Oh, why did he do it? Why? She blushed
and with her handkerchief she rubbed her lips until they stung. Wipe
away the kiss she must, or she could never look him in the face
again....

It seemed a long time before Brynhild returned. Footsteps and laughter
told of her approach. The maid came in first carrying a shawl, and at
the door the singer paused. Hilda half rose in fear--not knowing who was
talking. Of course it was Albert. The door was partly opened, and Hilda,
looking at her mother on the top steps of the little staircase, saw her
lower her head to the level of the tenor's face and kiss him....
Fainting, the girl leaned back and covered her face with her hands. The
other entered in whirlwind fashion.

"My Hilda. My God! child, have you been mooning here ever since I went
on? What is the matter? You look flushed. Let us go home and have a
quiet cup of tea. Albert is coming for us to go to some nice place for
dinner. Come, come, rouse yourself! Marie-chen"--to the maid--"don't be
stupid. Depechez-vous, depechez-vous!"

And Madame Stock bustled about and half tore off her cuirass, pitched
her helmet in the corner and looked very much alive and young.

"Oh, what a Wotan, Mein Gott! what a man. Do you know what he was doing
when I sang 'War es so schmaehlich?' He had his back to the house and
chewed gum. I swear it. When I grabbed his legs in anguish the beast
chewed gum, his whole body trembled from the exertion; he says that it
is good for a dry throat."

Hilda hardly listened. Her mother had kissed Albert, and she shook as
one with the ague....

She pleaded a headache, and did not go to dinner. The next day they left
Hamburg, and Albert did not ac