of water.

XI

DR. ARCHIE saw nothing of Thea during the following week. After several
fruitless efforts, he succeeded in getting a word with her over the
telephone, but she sounded so distracted and driven that he was glad to
say good-night and hang up the instrument. There were, she told him,
rehearsals not only for "Walkure," but also for "Gotterdammerung," in
which she was to sing WALTRAUTE two weeks later.

On Thursday afternoon Thea got home late, after an exhausting rehearsal.
She was in no happy frame of mind. Madame Necker, who had been very
gracious to her that night when she went on to complete Gloeckler's
performance of SIEGLINDE, had, since Thea was cast to sing the part
instead of Gloeckler in the production of the "Ring," been chilly and
disapproving, distinctly hostile. Thea had always felt that she and
Necker stood for the same sort of endeavor, and that Necker recognized
it and had a cordial feeling for her. In Germany she had several times
sung BRANGAENA to Necker's ISOLDE, and the older artist had let her know
that she thought she sang it beautifully. It was a bitter disappointment
to find that the approval of so honest an artist as Necker could not
stand the test of any significant recognition by the management. Madame
Necker was forty, and her voice was failing just when her powers were at
their height. Every fresh young voice was an enemy, and this one was
accompanied by gifts which she could not fail to recognize.

Thea had her dinner sent up to her apartment, and it was a very poor
one. She tasted the soup and then indignantly put on her wraps to go out
and hunt a dinner. As she was going to the elevator, she had to admit
that she was behaving foolishly. She took off her hat and coat and
ordered another dinner. When it arrived, it was no better than the
first. There was even a burnt match under the milk toast. She had a sore
throat, which made swallowing painful and boded ill for the morrow.
Although she had been speaking in whispers all day to save her throat,
she now perversely summoned the housekeeper and demanded an account of
some laundry that had been lost. The housekeeper was indifferent and
impertinent, and Thea got angry and scolded violently. She knew it was
very bad for her to get into a rage just before bedtime, and after the
housekeeper left she realized that for ten dollars' worth of
underclothing she had been unfitting herself for a performance which
might eventually mea