ry carriage, and amidst much
gabbling and wondering gossip were driven off. It was a plain, very
plain, funeral, every one said, and without a note of music. As the
crowd dribbled away, Selene recognized two of the prima donnas and the
first contralto of the opera, and she nudged Belle in a sardonic manner.

"More of them, Belle, more of them. We ought to feel flattered," then
both women burst into hysterical sobbing and embraced desperately. They
read in each other's eyes a mutual desire.

"Shall we risk it?" whispered Belle. Selene was already putting on her
heavy mourning veil. Belle at once began to dress, and James was
despatched for a carriage. The street was clear when the widows went
forth, and in half an hour they reached the opera-house. Here they were
delayed. A mounted policeman tried to turn their hansom away.

Selene beckoned to him and explained:

"I am Mrs. Brazier," and the officer bowed. They were driven to a side
entrance, and the assistant-manager took the pair to his box. There
they sat and trembled behind their long crape veils....

Some one on the stage was speaking of music, the "Heavenly Maid," and
the women dissolved in tears at the glowing eulogies upon their husband.
The huge auditorium was draped entirely in black. In it was thronged a
sombre-coated mass of men and the women known in the fashionable and
artistic world. The stage was filled with musicians, and in its centre,
banked by violets, violets only, was the catafalque. The numerous
candles and flowers made the air dull and perfumed; the large
chandeliers burned dimly, and when the Pilgrims' Chorus began, Belle
felt that she was ready to swoon.

The stage-setting was the last scene of "Goetterdaemmerung", and the
chorus was in costume. A celebrated orator had finished; the chorus
welled up solemnly, and Selene said again and again:

"Oh, Sig! Sig! what a funeral, what a funeral for such a man!" "It's
just the kind he would have liked," remonstrated Belle, in a barely
audible voice, and Selene shivered. When the music ceased a soprano sang
the Immolation music and there was weeping heard in the body of the
house. The ushers with difficulty kept the aisles clear, and the lobbies
were packed with perspiring persons. Wherever Selene peeped she saw
faces, and they all wore an expression of grief. Nearly all the women
carried handkerchiefs to their eyes, and many of the men seemed
shamefaced at the tears they could not keep back. In o