entiment of honor, still
cherished in his heart of hearts his daughter's love. The terrible
contrast between his mockery of the world and his affection for his
home, the bitter consciousness of how he treated others, conjuring up
the terrors of what yet might be his own fate, came to him in her words,
as the stage revealed their action, and gradually he leaned over in his
eagerness till his head projected outside the box.

"There--was n't I right about her?" said a voice from one of the stalls
beneath. "That's Grog Davis. I know the fellow well."

"I 've won my wager," said another. "There 's old Grog leaning over her
shoulder, and there can't be much doubt about her now."

"Annesley Beecher at one side, and Grog Davis at the other," said
a third, make the case very easy reading. "I 'll go round and get
presented to her."

"Let us leave this, Davis," whispered Beecher, while he trembled from
head to foot,--"let us leave this at once. Come down to the crush-room,
and I 'll find a carriage."

[Illustration: 342]

"Why so--what do you mean?" said Davis; and as suddenly he followed
Beecher's glance towards the pit, whence every eye was turned towards
them.

That glance was not to be mistaken. It was the steady and insolent stare
the world bestows upon those who have neither champions nor defenders;
and Davis returned the gaze with a defiance as insulting.

"For any sake, Davis, let us get away," whispered Beecher again. "Only
think of _her_, if there should be any exposure!"

"Exposure!--how should there? Who 'd dare--"

Before he could finish, the curtain at the back of the box was rudely
drawn aside, and a tall, handsome man, with a certain swaggering ease of
manner that seemed to assert his right to be there if he pleased, came
forward, saying,--

"How goes it, Davis? I just caught a glimpse of that charming--"

"A word with you, Captain Hamilton," said Davis, between his teeth, as
he pushed the other towards the door.

"As many as you like, old fellow, by and by. For the present, I mean to
establish myself here."

"That you sha'n't, by Heaven!" cried Davis, as he placed himself in
front of him. "Leave this, sir, at once."

"Why, the fellow is deranged," said Hamilton, laughing; "or is it
jealousy, old boy?"

With a violent push Davis drove him backwards, and ere he could recover,
following up the impulse, he thrust him outside the box, hurriedly
passing outside, and shutting the door after him.

S