n.

But then the girl who was ugly in the other act comes on very beautiful
(but hideously dressed, why don't they get Worth or Doucet, I wonder,
to help them?) and she sings a great deal and very loud, and kisses
Parsifal, and then everything goes suddenly to wrack and ruin. I shall
never dare kiss any very good young man again--not after that! In the
last act, this same creature, looking more like Act I., washes
Parsifal's feet. I should hate to play that part, but it's all very
pretty and affecting, and the music--well there are no words to
describe it. And the whole rest of the act is too wonderful! Really you
have to cry. Of course, it's too long, and you're awfully hungry, but
there is a rather smart restaurant now, where everybody goes afterward
to get their spirits back; which reminds me that Mrs. Gordon turned up
yesterday and appeared at the restaurant at night, affording us a good
deal of amusement. First she started to courtesy to the Royalties, who
don't want to be noticed. This she perceived in the middle of her
courtesy, and cut it short in a quick way, which made her look exactly
as if _something_ important in her toilet had burst or broken. Then she
flew all over from room to room, trying to find a table that suited
her, disturbing the whole atmosphere, like meteors are said to do in
the skies, and creating the impression, or trying to, that she owned
the entire place. She won't be happy here, for it isn't easy for anyone
else to own anything where Frau Wagner is installed; which reminds me
to stop this gossip and tell you seriously about the other operas.

The first of the Ring is the Valkyrie; you can remember it because of
Lord Dunraven's yacht. And they swim around in the water; which is, I
suppose, why he called it so. But no; on second thoughts, that isn't it
at all. The first opera is Rheingold, and it's the Rhine maidens that
go swimming about. How absurd of Dunraven to have made such a mistake.
I like the Rheingold awfully. The first act looks just like water, and
the music is so pretty. Then, in the second act, there are two splendid
big men--one in white, the other in black bear skins--who are rather
fetching. The Rheingold is the least sociable of the operas, as there
is no entre-act. But it is fortunately a great deal the shortest. I
think it is one of my favorites. I seem to know more what Wagner is
about in it. I don't believe he knows himself what he is about some of
the time in the Val