a.

"A mental disorder of some kind, it seems. . . . Of course I don't
know and I don't believe it. I tell you only what I see But . . .
but . . ."

"And what of the theater?" Janina asked.

"You will be famous . . . you will be very famous!" he whispered
hurriedly without looking at her.

"That isn't true; you didn't see that there!" she exclaimed, reading
the falsehood in his eyes.

"My word! my word of honor all that is written there! You will
achieve fame, but through so much suffering, through so many
tears. . . . Beware of dreaming!"

And he kissed her hand.

The noisy buzz of voices merged with tones of music broke the
stillness in which both of them had become rapt.

For a little while Janina sat alone, after her companion withdrew,
torn by dim forebodings.

"You are going to be very famous! Beware of dreaming!" she kept
repeating to herself.

That evening the counselor sent to Janina a bouquet, a box of candy,
and a letter inviting her to supper at the "Idyl," mentioning that
Topolski and Majkowska were also to be there.

She read it and, not knowing what to do, asked Sowinska.

"Sell the bouquet, eat the candy, and go to the supper."

"So that is your advice? . . ." asked Janina.

Sowinska scornfully shrugged her shoulders.

Janina angrily threw the bouquet in a corner, distributed the candy
among the chorus girls, and after the performance went straight
home, highly indignant at the counselor whom she had looked upon as
a very serious and honest man.

On the next day at the rehearsal Majkowska remarked tauntingly to
Janina: "You are an immaculate romanticist."

"No, only I respect myself," answered Janina.

"Get thee to a nunnery!" declaimed Majkowska.

In the afternoon Janina went as usual to Cabinska's home to give
Yadzia her piano lesson, but she could not forget that scornful
shrug of Sowinska's shoulders and Majkowska's words.

She finished the lesson and then sat for a long time playing
Chopin's Nocturnes, finding in their melancholy strains a balm for
her own sorrows.

"Miss Janina . . . My husband has left a role here for you!" called
Cabinska from the other room.

Janina closed the piano and began to peruse the role. It consisted
of a few words from Glogowski's new play and did not satisfy her in
the least, for it was nothing but a short little episode.
Nevertheless, this was to be her first real appearance in the drama.

The play had been postponed until the following