wice at the dress rehearsal."

The overture died down; a bell tinkled, and the curtain parted in the
middle, discovering Cynthia sitting on a garden-seat in the castle park
(originally the Forest of Arden).

As the curtain fell at the end of the act, and the applause gave way to
an excited buzz in the audience, Patty hugged Georgie gleefully. "It's
fifty times better than last year!"

"Heaven send Theo Granby is out there!" piously ejaculated Georgie.
(Theo Granby had been the chairman of last year's senior play.)

* * * * *

THE curtain had risen on the fourth act, and Patty squeezed herself into
the somewhat close quarters behind the balcony. There was
fortunately--or rather unfortunately--a window in the rear of the
building at this point, and Patty opened it and perched herself at one
end of the sill, with the lamp-chimney ready for use at the other end.
The crash was not due for some time, and Patty, having lately elected
astronomy, whiled away the interval by examining the stars.

On the stage matters were approaching a climax. Lord Bromley was making
an excellent lover, as was proved by the fact that the audience was
taking him seriously instead of laughing through the love scenes as
usual.

"Cynthia," he implored, "say that you will be mine, and I will brave all
for your sake. I will follow you to the ends of the earth." He gazed
tenderly into her eyes, and waited for the crash. A silence as of the
tomb prevailed, and he continued to gaze tenderly, while a grin rapidly
spread over the audience.

"Hang Patty!" he murmured savagely. "Might have known she'd do something
like this.--What was that? Did you hear a noise?" he asked aloud.

"No," said Cynthia, truthfully; "I did not hear anything."

"Pretend you did," he whispered, and they continued to improvise. After
some five minutes of hopeless floundering, the prompter got them back on
the track again, and the act proceeded, with the audience happily
unaware that anything was missing.

Ten minutes later Lord Bromley was declaiming: "Cynthia, let us flee
this place. Its dark rooms haunt me; its silence oppresses me--" And the
crash came.

For the first moment the audience was too startled to notice that the
actors were also taken by surprise. Then Lord Bromley, who was getting
used to emergencies, pulled himself together and ejaculated, "Hark! What
was that sound?"

"I think it was a crash," said Cynthia.

He grasped