could only passively and excitedly endure the conflicting emotions of
the moment. And Alf did not speak, but hurried her along as fast as his
strong arm could secure her compliance with his own pace; and they
walked through the night-ridden streets and full into the blaze of the
theatre entrance without any words at all. Then, when the staring
vehemence of the electric lights whitened and shadowed her face, Emmy
drew away, casting down her eyes, alarmed at the disclosures which the
brilliance might devastatingly make. She slipped from his arm, and stood
rather forlornly while Alf fished in his pockets for the tickets. With
docility she followed him, thrilled when he stepped aside in passing the
commissionaire and took her arm. Together they went up the stairs, the
heavy carpets with their drugget covers silencing every step, the gilded
mirrors throwing their reflections backwards and forwards until the
stairs seemed peopled with hosts of Emmys and Alfs. As they drew near
the closed doors of the circle the hush filling the staircases and
vestibules of the theatre was intensified. An aproned attendant seemed
to Emmy's sensitiveness to look them up and down and superciliously to
disapprove them. She moved with indignation. A dull murmur, as of single
voices, disturbed the air somewhere behind the rustling attendant: and
when the doors were quickly opened Emmy saw beyond the darkness and the
intrusive flash of light caused by the opening doors a square of
brilliance and a dashing figure upon the stage talking staccato. Those
of the audience who were sitting near the doors turned angrily and with
curiosity to view the new-comers; and the voice that Emmy had
distinguished went more stridently on, with a strong American accent. In
a flurry she found and crept into her seat, trying to understand the
play, to touch Alf, to remove her hat, to discipline her excitements.
And the staccato voice went on and on, detailing a plan of some sort
which she could not understand because they had missed the first five
minutes of the play. Emmy could not tell that the actor was only
pretending to be an American; she could not understand why, having
spoken twenty words, he must take six paces farther from the footlights
until he had spoken thirteen more; but she could and did feel most
overwhelmingly exuberant at being as it were alone in that half-silent
multitude, sitting beside Alf, their arms touching, her head whirling,
her heart beating, a