mian had never heard it
before. But Mrs. Mansfield had heard it.

"'I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven
angels, "Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God
upon the earth...."

"'The second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became
as the blood of a dead man....

"'The fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was
given to him to scorch men with fire....

"'The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river
Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the
Kings of the East might be prepared....

"'Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and
keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.'"

When Claude ceased there was a silence that seemed long. He remained
sitting with his back to his wife and his guests, his face to the piano.
At last he got up and turned, and his eyes again sought the face of Van
Brinen. Then Van Brinen moved, clasped his long and thin hands tightly
together, and said:

"That's great! That's very great!"

He paused, gazing at Claude.

"That's enormous!" he said. "Do you mean--is that from the opera?"

"Oh, no!" said Claude.

He came to sit down, and began to talk quickly of all sorts of things.
When the two pressmen were about to go away Van Brinen said:

"I wish you success, Mr. Heath, as I have very seldom wished it for any
man. For since I have heard some of your music, I feel that you deserve
it as very few musicians I know anything of do."

Claude's face flushed painfully, became scarlet.

"Thank you very much," he almost muttered. But he wrung Van Brinen's
thin hand hard, and when he was alone with Charmian he said:

"Of all the men I have met in New York that is the one I like best."

Van Brinen had considerable influence in the musical world of New York,
and after that evening he used it on Claude's behalf. The members of the
art circles of the city had Claude's name perpetually upon their lips.
Articles began to appear which voiced the great expectation musicians
were beginning to found upon Claude's work. The "boom" grew, and was no
longer merely sensational, a noisy thing worked up by paid agents.

Charmian became quickly aware of this and exulted. Now and then she
remembered her conversation with Susan Fleet and had a moment of doubt,
of wonder. Now and then a fleeting expression in the pa