e months--it had kept her from going mad from the
treadmill of the other piece--and he, Nick, had occurred to her again,
in the last intolerable hours, as the friend in need, the salutary
stop-gap, no matter how much she worried him. She shouldn't be turned
out? Biddy broke away from Basil Dashwood: she must go, she must hurry
off to Miss Tressilian with her news. Florry might make some other
stupid engagement for the evening: she must be warned in time. The girl
took a flushed, excited leave after having received a renewal of
Miriam's pledge and even heard her say to Nick that he must now give
back the seat already sent him--they should be sure to have another use
for it.

LI

That night at the theatre and in the box--the miracle had been wrought,
the treasure found--Nick Dormer pointed out to his two companions the
stall he had relinquished, which was close in front; noting how oddly it
remained during the whole of the first act vacant. The house was beyond
everything, the actress beyond any one; though to describe again so
famous an occasion--it has been described repeatedly by other
reporters--is not in the compass of the closing words of a history
already too sustained. It is enough to say that these great hours marked
an era in contemporary art and that for those who had a spectator's
share in them the words "revelation," "incarnation," "acclamation,"
"demonstration," "ovation"--to name only a few, and all accompanied by
the word "extraordinary"--acquired a new force. Miriam's Juliet was an
exquisite image of young passion and young despair, expressed in the
truest, divinest music that had ever poured from tragic lips. The great
childish audience, gaping at her points, expanded there before her like
a lap to catch flowers.

During the first interval our three friends in the box had plenty to
talk about, and they were so occupied with it that for some time they
failed to observe a gentleman who had at last come into the empty stall
near the front. This discovery was presently formulated by Miss
Tressilian in the cheerful exclamation: "Only fancy--there's Mr.
Sherringham!" This of course immediately became a high wonder--a wonder
for Nick and Biddy, who had not heard of his return; and the prodigy was
quickened by the fact that he gave no sign of looking for them or even
at them. Having taken possession of his place he sat very still in it,
staring straight before him at the curtain. His abrupt reappearan