st wildly, in late hours of the night
to Charmian.

Then there was Alston, who was to have his first great chance in the
opera, and who grew more fervently believing with each rehearsal.

The great theater was pervaded by optimism, which flowed from the
fountain-head of its owner. And this optimism percolated through certain
sections of society in New York, as had been the case in London before
Sennier's _Paradis Terrestre_ was given for the first time.

Report of the opera was very good. And with each passing day it became
better.

Charmian remembered what had happened in London, and thought exultantly,
"Success is in the air."

It certainly seemed to be so. Rumor was busy and spoke kind things.
Charmian noticed that the manner of many people toward her and Claude
was becoming increasingly cordial. The pressmen whom she met gave her
unmistakable indications that they expected great things of her husband.
Two of them, musical critics both, came to dine with her and Claude one
night at the St. Regis, and talked music for hours. One of them had
lived in Paris, and was steeped in modernity. He was evidently much
interested in Claude's personality, and after dinner, when they had all
returned from the restaurant to the Heaths' sitting-room, he said to
Charmian:

"Your husband is the most interesting English personality I have met. He
is the only Englishman who has ever given to me the feeling of
strangeness, of the beyond."

He glanced around with his large Southern eyes and saw that there was a
piano in the room.

"Would he play to us, do you think?" he said, rather tentatively. "I am
not asking as a pressman but as a keen musician."

"Claude!" Charmian said. "Mr. Van Brinen asks if you will play us a
little bit of the opera."

Claude got up.

"Why not?" he said.

He spoke firmly. His manner was self-reliant, almost determined. He went
to the piano, sat down, and played the scene Gillier had liked so much,
the scene in which some of Said Hitani's curious songs were reproduced.
The two journalists were evidently delighted.

"That's new!" said Van Brinen. "Nothing like that has ever been heard
here before. It brings a breath of the East to Broadway."

Claude had turned half round on the piano stool. His eyes were fixed
upon Van Brinen. And now Van Brinen looked at him. There was an instant
of silence. Then Claude swung round again to the piano and began to play
something that was not out of the opera. Char