and jackets on.
I'll telephone an agent and see what's good."

Polly ran out of the room, glad to have the problem of the evening's
entertainment solved for her, but still she felt a little disappointed
because Tom could so eagerly suggest taking the family out when she
wanted to have a tete-a-tete with him to ask about the mines. Tom's
plan about holding the temptation before a burro instead of surfeiting
him with goodies, was evidently beginning to work.

The play was one of the most popular ones, and seats were in great
demand. But money does anything in New York, so Tom secured splendid
orchestra seats, and they reached the theatre just as the curtain went up
on the first scene. The interior was darkened when they entered, and
Polly could not tell who sat in front of her, until the first act ended
and the lights were turned on.

Tom sat beside her, and began whispering in his free western voice, when
a young man seated directly in front, turned deliberately around and
stared at him. Polly gasped, and Eleanor nudged her in the side. It was
Jack Baxter!

Without taking his eyes from Tom, Jack reached under the chair and got
his hat. Then he dragged his coat over his arm, and got up. He bowed
stiffly to the girls in Tom's party, and went out. Tom waited until he
was gone, then he looked down at Polly.

"Um! It was high time I came East, I see!"

"Why?" was Polly's smiling rejoinder.

"By next Spring it might have been Tom who sat alone and felt like the
fifth wheel in a wagon instead of Baxter. My, but I'm glad I came!"

Polly frowned, and Eleanor did her best to hear what was said between
these two _apparently_ phlegmatic companions. But Tom meant his words for
Polly's ears only.

Once during the evening, when the light was so low that the theatre was
almost dark, Tom changed his position in such a way that his arm rested
over the back of Polly's chair. In his interest in the scene on the
stage, his hand dropped carelessly upon her shoulder. And Polly was too
engaged with the play to remove it, or even change her position to allow
it to fall back again.

Then Tom moved, so that his arms touched hers, and his hand that rested
upon one knee, could cover Polly's hand while the audience was enthralled
by the burglar's escape, and no one but Eleanor had the slightest idea of
what was going on in these two orchestra chairs. But Polly grew restive
and tried to free her hand.

Then the lights went up again, and