e.

"I read it in the paper. Aunt and I were talking of him; and I--I had
the curiosity to look at the advertisements--not dreaming that I
should come so near seeing him."

"Never mind," cried Dale, in his jovial, far-carrying voice; "there'll
be a many as good as him."

"Hush," she whispered. "If you talk like that, they'll know we come
from the country;" and she squeezed his arm affectionately. "I don't
mind a bit, dear--but there's no one so clever as Chirgwin. Really
there isn't."

She at once forgot her trifling disappointment. Placed side by side in
extravagantly expensive seats of the stately circle, surrounded by
ladies and gentlemen in evening dress, they both gave themselves
wholly to the pleasure of this unparalleled treat. All the early items
of a long program astounded or charmed him; and her enjoyment was
enhanced by recognizing how completely he had thrown off the
narrowness or prejudice of village life. Listening to his laughter at
almost indecent jokes, his ejaculations of wonder when conjurers
showed their skill, his enthusiastic clappings after acrobats had
proved their strength, she understood that all his natural sternness
was temporarily relaxed; he would not allow himself to be disturbed by
any semi-religious notions of propriety or impropriety; he was just a
jolly comrade for an evening's sport.

"Brayvo! Brayvo! By Jupiter--wouldn't 'a' credited it without the
evidence of my own eyes." The gorgeous curtains had just descended
upon a narrow parlor, which a Japanese necromancer had literally
filled to overflowing with colored cardboard boxes produced from the
interior of one single top hat. "See! Watch 'em, Mav." Footmen were
coming in front of the curtains to remove the plethora of cardboard
boxes. "They're real boxes, Mav."

Sweet music, happy laughter, brilliant light--the evening glided
entrancingly, like a dream in which neither Greenwich nor any other
time is kept.

During the interval before the ballet he took her out of the circle,
strolled with her up and down the promenade, and gave her an American
drink in a refreshment saloon. It was appallingly hot, and they were
both longing to quench their thirst with something big and cold. A
magnificent waiter brought them bigness and coldness in tall tumblers
with straws, and they sat on a velvet divan and sucked rapturously.

Standing or seated at tables, there were young bloods with white
waistcoats and cigarettes, and young ladies w