passage, I had seen her
sitting motionless and calm in the light of her countless candles.

"But do you think I sent for you to tell you that?" she continued.
"I sent for you because you interested me, and because I want a talk
with you. Hush! the curtain is rising for the second act. Let us
resume when it has finished; you will not deny me that favour at
least."

I bowed again, and was silent as the curtain rose--and once more
Claire's superb voice thrilled the house. Surely man was seldom more
strangely placed than was I, between the speech of my love and the
eyes of this extraordinary woman. As I sat in the shadow and
listened, I felt those blazing fires burning into my very soul; yet
whenever I looked up and met them, their icy glitter baffled all
interpretation. Still as I sat there, the voice of Claire came to me
as though beseeching and praying for my judgment, and rising with the
blaze of light and heated atmosphere of the house, swept into the box
until I could bear the oppression no longer. She must have looked
for me, and seeing my place empty, have guessed that I condemned her.
Mad with the thought, I rose to my feet and stood for a minute full
in the light of the theatre. It may not have been even a minute, but
she saw me, and once more, as our gaze met, faltered for an instant.
Then the voice rang out clear and true again, and I knew that all was
well between us. Yet in her look there was something which I could
not well interpret.

As I sank back in my seat, I met the eyes of my companion still
impenetrably regarding me. But as the curtain fell she said
quietly--

"So you know Clarissa Lambert?"

I stammered an affirmative.

"Well? You admire her acting?"

"I never saw it until to-night."

"That is strange; and yet you know her?"

I nodded.

"She is a great success--on which I congratulate myself, for I
discovered her."

"You!" I could only exclaim.

"Yes, I. Is it so extraordinary? She and I are connected, so to
speak; which makes it the more odd that she should never have
mentioned you."

The eyes seemed now to be reading me as a book. I summoned all my
courage and tried to return their steady stare. There was a pause,
broken only by the light_ frou-frou_ of the fan, as it still waved
slowly backwards and forwards. Among all the discoveries of this
night, it was hard enough to summon reason, harder to utter speech.

"But you will be leaving me again if I do not expl