nd he
and Undine drove off together, leaving Mrs. Spragg to gaze after them
with the pale stare of Hecuba.

Their stalls were in the middle of the house, and around them swept
the great curve of boxes at which Undine had so often looked up in the
remote Stentorian days. Then all had been one indistinguishable glitter,
now the scene was full of familiar details: the house was thronged with
people she knew, and every box seemed to contain a parcel of her
past. At first she had shrunk from recognition; but gradually, as she
perceived that no one noticed her, that she was merely part of the
invisible crowd out of range of the exploring opera glasses, she felt a
defiant desire to make herself seen. When the performance was over her
father wanted to leave the house by the door at which they had entered,
but she guided him toward the stockholders' entrance, and pressed her
way among the furred and jewelled ladies waiting for their motors. "Oh,
it's the wrong door--never mind, we'll walk to the corner and get a
cab," she exclaimed, speaking loudly enough to be overheard. Two or
three heads turned, and she met Dicky Bowles's glance, and returned his
laughing bow. The woman talking to him looked around, coloured slightly,
and made a barely perceptible motion of her head. Just beyond her, Mrs.
Chauncey Elling, plumed and purple, stared, parted her lips, and
turned to say something important to young Jim Driscoll, who looked up
involuntarily and then squared his shoulders and gazed fixedly at a
distant point, as people do at a funeral. Behind them Undine caught
sight of Clare Van Degen; she stood alone, and her face was pale and
listless. "Shall I go up and speak to her?" Undine wondered. Some
intuition told her that, alone of all the women present, Clare might
have greeted her kindly; but she hung back, and Mrs. Harmon Driscoll
surged by on Popple's arm. Popple crimsoned, coughed, and signalled
despotically to Mrs. Driscoll's footman. Over his shoulder Undine
received a bow from Charles Bowen, and behind Bowen she saw two or three
other men she knew, and read in their faces surprise, curiosity, and the
wish to show their pleasure at seeing her. But she grasped her father's
arm and drew him out among the entangled motors and vociferating
policemen.

Neither she nor Mr. Spragg spoke a word on the way home; but when they
reached the Malibran her father followed her up to her room. She had
dropped her cloak and stood before the ward