m from the closed windows, but neither of us must be present. Now,
don't shake your head! In this matter I'm determined; besides what would
the newspapers say? One miserable sheet actually compared us to
Bruennhilde and Gutrune because--oh, you know why!"

"When Sig left the opera-house," continued Belle, in a calm voice, "he
always took a special train home and I suppose the railroad men gave the
story to the reporters."

"Not always; excuse me, Belle," contradicted Selene, in her coldest
manner; "the last time Sig sang 'Goetterdaemmerung' he returned here."
Belle stood up and waved her teaspoon.

"Now, don't be ridiculous, Selene; this was not as much his home as ours
in the mountains, and--"

"There is no necessity of becoming excited, Belle; he told me of his
affair with you." Selene's blue eyes were opened very wide. The other
woman began to blaze.

"Affair? Why, foolish child, I am his first wife--" "Common-law wife,"
interjected Selene. "His first, his legal wife, and I mean to test it in
the courts. His property--" "You mean his debts, Belle," interrupted
Selene, contemptuously. "Sig owes even for his Siegfried helmet. He
gambled his money away. He played poker-dice when he wasn't singing
Wagner, and flirted when he wasn't drunk."

Belle sat down and laughed again, and this time Selene joined in.

"Tell me, dear, how and when he persuaded you," inquired Belle. Selene
grew snappish. "Oh, you read the papers. We were married last month with
Val as witness; then some fool got hold of the story; it was printed.
Sig came home after the opera and told me that he was ruined because he
had expected a fortune from Mrs. Madison--you know the old bleached
blonde who sits in the first tier box at the opera--and, of course, I
smelt another affair. I scolded him and sent for Val. Well, Val was a
perfect fool on the subject of Sig, and when he heard of the gambling
debts he said a lawyer might straighten the affair out. That night Sig
began drinking absinthe and brandy, and in the morning James, the
butler, found him dead. If the papers hadn't got hold of your story,
the thing could have been nicely settled. As it is we are simply
ridiculous, and the worst of all is that the management and the
stockholders insist on a public funeral and speeches; Sig was such a
favorite. Think! he was the first great American Wagner singer; and so
here are we, a pair of fools in love with the same man"--"Excuse me,
Selene, I never love