was in the
direction of the latter, but no one save Quin gave vent to his or her
sentiments.

"Well, what d'ye think, Mr. Quin?" asked Gay anxiously when the
rehearsal was over.

Quin refreshed himself with a pinch of snuff before he answered.

"Humph--can't say--can't say. It'll be a riddle to the audience. Bad
thing to puzzle 'em, eh?"

"Surely it's plain enough. But if it's amusing, what else matters?"

"I won't put my opinion against yours, Mr. Gay and Mr. Pope's, but----"

Quin shrugged his shoulders and stalked away, and Lavinia, who was
watching the two from a distance, ran across the stage, her face a
little troubled. She had interpreted Quin's gesture correctly.

"Oh, Mr. Gay----" she stopped. Gay was looking so sad.

"Mr. Quin doesn't like the opera, Polly. What do you say?"

"Mr. Quin doesn't like it because he can't act the part," cried Lavinia
indignantly. "None of us like him in it any more than he does himself.
He's not my idea of a highwayman."

"Why, what do you know about highwaymen? But I forgot, of course. Wasn't
the coach that brought you to London from Mr. Pope's villa stopped by
one?"

"Yes," rejoined Lavinia hastily, "but he was a brutal ruffian. Not your
Captain Macheath at all. Mr. Quin chills me. I can't fancy myself in
love with him. Nor can Mrs. Egleton. She says she could no more quarrel
over him than she could over a stick. His singing and his voice give us
the 'creeps.'"

"Faith, both are bad enough, but Mr. Rich seems bound to him."

"Why doesn't he try Tom Walker? When Tom isn't drunk, he sings like an
angel."

"I know--I know. Well, we'll see."

But nothing was done, and at the second rehearsal Quin's Captain
Macheath was more droningly dismal than ever. A dead silence followed
the dance with which the last act concludes, and amid the stillness came
from somewhere behind the scenes the sound of a mellow tenor voice
trolling Macheath's lively melody, "When the heart of a man's depressed
with care."

"By the lord," quoth Quin, "that's the voice of Tom Walker. He's the man
for Macheath. Mr. Rich, I resign the part. It was never meant for me.
Give it to Walker."

John Rich grunted, but he made no objection. It so happened that Walker
could act as well as sing, and that made all the difference in Rich's
estimation. So one great obstacle to success was removed. But there were
others. The duets and the choruses sounded terribly thin without an
instrument to support the