stage until our ears are
sore," called someone.

"Gentlemen! haven't you perhaps seen Peter?" inquired an actress,
poking her head through the door.

"Gentlemen, see if Peter isn't sitting somewhere under the table,"
mocked someone.

"Milady . . . Peter went upstairs with a very pretty little dame."

"Murder him, madame! he's unfaithful!"

Such were the remarks, punctuated with laughter, that greeted her.

The actress vanished and from the other side of the stage one could
hear her asking everyone, "Have you seen Peter?"

"She will go crazy some day from jealousy over him! . . ." remarked
someone.

"A respectable woman!"

"But that doesn't prevent her from being a fool."

"How are you, Editor!"

"Oh, it's the editor, is it! . . . that means we'll have beer and
cigarettes."

"And here comes the counselor! . . ."

"Good evening Counselor!"

"What news at the box office?"

"Fine! . . . The theater is sold out, for I saw Gold smoking a
cigar."

"Praised be the gods! The advances on our salaries will be larger."

"How do you do, Bolek! . . . Don't come in here, or you will melt
like butter . . . we have a little Africa here to-day . . ."

"We'll cool ourselves immediately, for I've ordered the beer . . ."

"To the stage, everybody! . . . The people to the stage! The priests
to the stage! The soldiers to the stage!" shouted the stage-director,
rushing from one dressing-room to the other.

After a moment, all had vanished.

It was well after ten o'clock, the next morning at her hotel when
Janina awoke, worn-out completely; for the moment, she could not
understand, where she was.

She no longer felt any of yesterday's feverish raptures, but rather
a quiet gladness that she was already in the theater. At moments,
the bright tone of her mood was overcast by some shadow, some
presentiment, or unconscious memory from the past; it was the
glimmering of something unpleasant which, although it quickly
vanished, left traces of uneasiness.

She hastily drank her tea and was about to go out, when someone
gently rapped at the door.

"Come in!" she called.

There entered an old Jewish woman, neatly dressed, with a big box
under her arm.

"Good morning, miss!"

"Good morning," she answered, surprised by the visit.

"Perhaps you will buy something, miss? . . . I have good, cheap
wares. Perhaps you need some jewelry? Perhaps some gloves or
hairpins, they are pure silver. I have all kinds of articles at