ice. And
then--" Fred whistled softly.

"Well, what then?"

"Then our girl may come in for some of it. It's dog eat dog, in this
game as in every other."

The cab stopped and Fred and Dr. Archie hurried to the box office. The
Monday-night house was sold out. They bought standing room and entered
the auditorium just as the press representative of the house was
thanking the audience for their patience and telling them that although
Madame Gloeckler was too ill to sing, Miss Kronborg had kindly consented
to finish her part. This announcement was met with vehement applause
from the upper circles of the house.

"She has her--constituents," Dr. Archie murmured.

"Yes, up there, where they're young and hungry. These people down here
have dined too well. They won't mind, however. They like fires and
accidents and DIVERTISSEMENTS. Two SIEGLINDES are more unusual than one,
so they'll be satisfied."

After the final disappearance of the mother of Siegfried, Ottenburg and
the doctor slipped out through the crowd and left the house. Near the
stage entrance Fred found the driver who had brought Thea down. He
dismissed him and got a larger car. He and Archie waited on the
sidewalk, and when Kronborg came out alone they gathered her into the
cab and sprang in after her.

Thea sank back into a corner of the back seat and yawned. "Well, I got
through, eh?" Her tone was reassuring. "On the whole, I think I've given
you gentlemen a pretty lively evening, for one who has no social
accomplishments."

"Rather! There was something like a popular uprising at the end of the
second act. Archie and I couldn't keep it up as long as the rest of them
did. A howl like that ought to show the management which way the wind is
blowing. You probably know you were magnificent."

"I thought it went pretty well," she spoke impartially. "I was rather
smart to catch his tempo there, at the beginning of the first
recitative, when he came in too soon, don't you think? It's tricky in
there, without a rehearsal. Oh, I was all right! He took that
syncopation too fast in the beginning. Some singers take it fast
there--think it sounds more impassioned. That's one way!" She sniffed,
and Fred shot a mirthful glance at Archie. Her boastfulness would have
been childish in a schoolboy. In the light of what she had done, of the
strain they had lived through during the last two hours, it made one
laugh,--almost cry. She went on, robustly: "And I didn't feel my