eyes.
She thought it was the pain of my ankle, but it was a sudden memory of
_Cora_ and the mad-scene. As the whirlwind of applause roared about me, I
sickened with a mortal terror of the ordeal awaiting me. I hope I may
always thrust Satan behind me with the whole-hearted force I used in
thrusting "L'Article 47" behind me on that occasion. I returned to "Il
Trovatore." I enjoyed each liquid jewel of a note, helped to raise the
roof, afterward declined supper, hastened home, romped my dog, and put
her to bed. Got into a dressing-gown, locked myself in my room, and had
it out with _Cora_, from A to Z. Tried this walk and that crouch; read
this way and that way. Found the exact moment when her mind began to
cloud, to waver, to recover, to break finally and irretrievably.
Determined positively just where I should be at certain times; allowed a
margin for the impulse or inspiration of the moment, and at last, with
the character crystal-clear before me, I ended my work and my vigil.

After turning out the gas I went to the window and looked at the sky. The
stars had gone in; low down in the east a faint, faint band of pink held
earth and sky together. I was calm and quite ready to rest. All my
uncertainty was at an end. What the public would do I could not know;
what I would do was clear and plain before me at last.

Poor Mr. Daly! I sighed, for I knew _his_ anxiety and uneasiness were not
allayed. Bertie, tired of waiting for me, had curled her loving little
body up in my pillow--a distinct breach of family discipline. A few
moments later, feeling her small tail beating a blissful tattoo on my
feet, I muttered, laughingly: "A little prayer, a little dog, and a
little rest," and so sank into the sound sleep I so desperately needed,
in preparation for the ever-to-be-dreaded first night of "L'Article 47"
of the French Penal Code.

The house was packed. Well-known people were seen all through the
theatre. Act I. represented the French Court with a trial in full
swing--it played for one hour, lacking three minutes. I was on the stage
ten minutes only. I was told Mr. Daly shook his head violently at the
curtain's fall.

The next act I was not in at all, but it dragged, and when that was over
Mr. Daly's peculiar test of public feeling showed the presence of
disappointment. Like many other managers, he often placed men here and
there to listen to the comments made by his patrons, but his quickest,
surest way of judging the effe