one, and the crowded room seemed to have
grown suddenly dull and empty.

'That was prettily done,' said Edward Wallace to Kendal as they stood
together looking on. 'In another woman those things would be done for
effect, but I don't think she does them for effect. It is as though she
felt herself in such a warm and congenial atmosphere, she is so sure of
herself and her surroundings, that she is able to give herself full play,
to follow every impulse as it rises. There is a wonderful absence of
_mauvaise honte_ about her, and yet I believe that, little as she knows
of her own deficiencies, she is really modest--'

'Very possibly,' said Kendal; 'it is a curious study, a character taken
so much _au naturel_, and suddenly transported into the midst of such a
London triumph as this. I have certainly been very much attracted, and
feel inclined to quarrel with you for having run her down. I believe I
shall admire her more than you do to-night.'

'I only hope you may,' said the American cordially; 'I am afraid,
however, that from any standard that is worth using there is not much to
be said for her as an actress. But as a human being she is very nearly
perfection.'

The afternoon guests departed, and just as the last had gone, Mr. Forbes
was announced. He came in in a bad temper, having been delayed by
business, and presently sat down to dinner with Mrs. Stuart and Wallace
and Kendal in a very grumbling frame of mind. Mr. Stuart, a young and
able lawyer, in the first agonies of real success at the bar, had sent
word that he could not reach home till late.

'I don't know, I'm sure, what's the good of going to see that girl with
you two carping fellows,' he began, combatively, over his soup. 'She
won't suit you, and you'll only spoil Mrs. Stuart's pleasure and mine.'

'My dear Forbes,' said Wallace in his placid undisturbed way, 'you will
see I shall behave like an angel. I shall allow myself no unpleasant
remarks, and I shall make as much noise as anybody in the theatre.'

'That's all very well; but if you don't say it, Kendal will look it; and
I don't know which is the most damping.'

'Mrs. Stuart, you shall be the judge of our behaviour,' said Kendal,
smiling--he and Forbes were excellent friends. 'Forbes is not in a
judicial frame of mind, but we will trust you to be fair. I suppose,
Forbes, we may be allowed a grumble or two at Hawes if you shut our
mouths on the subject of Miss Bretherton.'

'Hawes does his best,