Audrey and herself ought to have been in
that box, and had the afternoon developed otherwise they probably would
have been in that box. Fortunately at the luncheon, Audrey, who had bought
various lots of seats, had with the strange cautiousness of a young girl
left herself free to utilise or not to utilise the offered hospitality of
Mr. Gilman's double box, and Mr. Gilman had not pressed her for a decision.
Was it not important that the hall should seem as full as possible? When
Miss Ingate, pushing her investigations farther, had discovered not merely
Monsieur Dauphin, but Mr. Ziegler, late of Frinton and now resident in
Paris, her cup was full.

"It's vehy wonderful, _vehy_ wonderful!" said she.

But it was Audrey who most deeply had the sense of the wonderfulness of the
thing. For it was Audrey who had created it. Having months ago comprehended
that a formal and splendid debut was necessary for Musa if he was to
succeed within a reasonable space of time, she had willed the debut within
her own brain. She alone had thought of it. And now the realisation seemed
to her to be absolutely a miracle. Had she read of such an affair a year
earlier in a newspaper--with the words "Paris," "_tout Paris_," "young
genius," and so on--she would have pictured it as gloriously, thrillingly
romantic, and it indeed was gloriously and thrillingly romantic. She
thought: "None of these people sitting around me know that I have brought
it about, and that it is all mine." The thought was sweet. She felt like an
invisible African genie out of the Thousand and One Nights.

And yet what had she done to bring it about? Nothing, simply nothing,
except to command it! She had not even signed cheques. Mr. Foulger had
signed the cheques! Mr. Foulger, who set down the whole enterprise as
incomprehensible lunacy! Mr. Foulger, who had never been to aught but a
smoking-concert in his life, and who could not pronounce the name of
Beethoven without hesitations! The great deed had cost money, and it would
cost more money; it would probably cost four hundred pounds ere it was
finished with. An extravagant sum, but Xavier had motor-cars and toys even
more expensive than motor-cars to keep up! Audrey, however, considered it a
small sum, compared to the terrific spectacular effect obtained. And she
was right. The attributes of money seemed entirely magical to her. And she
was right again. She respected money with a new respect. And she respected
herself for