me long ago, Mr. Arkwright."

"Miss Neilson, you _are_ crying!" Arkwright's voice was low and
vibrant. "As if anything or anybody in the world _could_ make _you_ cry!
Please--you have only to command me, and I will sally forth at once to
slay the offender." His words were light, but his voice still shook with
emotion.

Billy gave an hysterical little giggle. Angrily she brushed the
persistent tears from her eyes.

"All right, then; I'll dub you my Sir Knight," she faltered. "But I'll
warn you--you'll have your hands full. You'll have to slay my headache,
and my throat-ache, and my shoe that hurts, and the man who stepped on
my dress, and--and everybody in the operetta, including myself."

"Everybody--in the operetta!" Arkwright did look a little startled, at
this wholesale slaughter.

"Yes. Did you ever see such an awful, awful thing as that was to-night?"
moaned the girl.

Arkwright's face relaxed.

"Oh, so _that's_ what it is!" he laughed lightly. "Then it's only a bogy
of fear that I've got to slay, after all; and I'll despatch that right
now with a single blow. Dress rehearsals always go like that to-night.
I've been in a dozen, and I never yet saw one go half decent. Don't you
worry. The worse the rehearsal, the better the performance, every time!"

Billy blinked off the tears and essayed a smile as she retorted:

"Well, if that's so, then ours to-morrow night ought to be a--a--"

"A corker," helped out Arkwright, promptly; "and it will be, too. You
poor child, you're worn out; and no wonder! But don't worry another
bit about the operetta. Now is there anything else I can do for you?
Anything else I can slay?"

Billy laughed tremulously.

"N-no, thank you; not that you can--slay, I fancy," she sighed.
"That is--not that you _will_," she amended wistfully, with a sudden
remembrance of the Cause, for which he might do so much--if he only
would.

Arkwright bent a little nearer. His breath stirred the loose, curling
hair behind Billy's ear. His eyes had flashed into sudden fire.

"But you don't know what I'd do if I could," he murmured unsteadily. "If
you'd let me tell you--if you only knew the wish that has lain closest
to my heart for--"

"Miss Neilson, please," called the despairing voice of one of the
earth-bound fairies; "Miss Neilson, you _are_ there, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm right here," answered Billy, wearily. Arkwright answered, too,
but not aloud--which was wise.

"Oh dear! you're tired,