od-evening, George!" she said gayly, as he opened the door. "A
wonderful scene, wasn't it? I have always wished to see Irving in
'Hamlet.'"

"This is 'Shylock,'" he said gravely, and turned to speak to the
others. They welcomed him eagerly, and made room for him. He had lost
something of the cold, blase air which had ennobled him in the eyes of
the young women. He looked around presently, and said with a
comfortable shrug:

"It is so pleasant to talk English again! My wife detests it. We
speak only French. I feel like an alien and outcast among you!" He
laughed; his mother glanced at him curiously. But Lucy turned her face
away, afraid that he should see it. As he talked, George noted the
clear-cut American features of the girls, and their dainty gowns, with
a keen pleasure; then he glanced quickly at the opposite box.

"Ah!" said Jean to Mr. Perry. "The soiled lace and musk are beginning
to tell! He is tired of Lisa already!" "I never liked the fellow,"
said Mr. Perry coldly. "But he is hardly the cad that you suppose."

He fell into a gloomy silence. He had wasted two years' salary in
following Lucy Dunbar about, in showering flowers on her, in posing
before her in the last fashions of Conduit Street, and yet when this
conceited fellow came into the box she was blind and deaf to all
besides! Her eyes filled with tears just now when he talked of his
loneliness. Lonely--with his wife! A married man!

George, when the curtain fell again, sat down by Frances.

"Mother," he said.

"Yes, George." Her eyes were bright and attentive, but her countenance
had fallen into hard lines new to him.

"I went to Morgan's this afternoon. You have been very liberal to us."

"I will do what I can. You may depend upon that amount, regularly."

He rose and bade them good-night, and turned to her again.

"We--we are coming to-morrow to thank you. MOTHER?" There was a hoarse
sob in his throat. He laid his hand on her arm. She moved so that it
dropped. "We will come to-morrow," he said. "Did you understand?
Lisa wishes to be friends with you. She is ready to forgive," he
groped on, blundering, like a man.

"Oh, yes, I understand. You and Lisa are coming to forgive me
to-morrow," she said, smiling.

He looked at her, perplexed and waiting. But she said no more.

"Well, I must go now. Good-night."

"Good-night, George!" Her bright, smiling eyes followed him steadily,
as he went out.

Mrs. Wal