ayed latent power. The voice had caused
Armand to look, the lips that spoke forged the first tiny link of that
chain which riveted him forever after to the speaker.

It is difficult to say if such a thing really exists as love at first
sight. Poets and romancists will have us believe that it does; idealists
swear by it as being the only true love worthy of the name.

I do not know if I am prepared to admit their theory with regard to
Armand St. Just. Mlle. Lange's exquisite voice certainly had charmed
him to the extent of making him forget his mistrust of de Batz and his
desire to get away. Mechanically almost he sat down again, and leaning
both elbows on the edge of the box, he rested his chin in his hand, and
listened. The words which the late M. de Moliere puts into the mouth
of Celimene are trite and flippant enough, yet every time that Mlle.
Lange's lips moved Armand watched her, entranced.

There, no doubt, the matter would have ended: a young man fascinated
by a pretty woman on the stage--'tis a small matter, and one from which
there doth not often spring a weary trail of tragic circumstances.
Armand, who had a passion for music, would have worshipped at the shrine
of Mlle. Lange's perfect voice until the curtain came down on the last
act, had not his friend de Batz seen the keen enchantment which the
actress had produced on the young enthusiast.

Now de Batz was a man who never allowed an opportunity to slip by, if
that opportunity led towards the furtherance of his own desires. He
did not want to lose sight of Armand just yet, and here the good demon
Chance had given him an opportunity for obtaining what he wanted.

He waited quietly until the fall of the curtain at the end of Act II.;
then, as Armand, with a sigh of delight, leaned back in his chair,
and closing his eyes appeared to be living the last half-hour all over
again, de Batz remarked with well-assumed indifference:

"Mlle. Lange is a promising young actress. Do you not think so, my
friend?"

"She has a perfect voice--it was exquisite melody to the ear," replied
Armand. "I was conscious of little else."

"She is a beautiful woman, nevertheless," continued de Batz with a
smile. "During the next act, my good St. Just, I would suggest that you
opened your eyes as well as your ears."

Armand did as he was bidden. The whole appearance of Mlle. Lange
seemed in harmony with her voice. She was not very tall, but eminently
graceful, with a small, ova