hat their congratulations should be offered.
Cries of "Author! Author of the book!" with much clapping of hands.
Jarvis stood there, scarcely breathing, cold sweat on his brow, waiting
for her to come. The applause became a clamour. The door opened and
Bambi floated in. She did not see the audience, her eyes were fixed on
Jarvis's face, and the strange expression she saw there. She came to
him, put her hand in his, and smiled. He was so obviously nonplussed
that the people grasped a new situation and were suddenly still. Bambi
smiled at him and spoke:

"Dear People: If you have had as much fun to-night as I have, we owe
each other nothing! And the most fun of all is the astonishment of Mr.
Jarvis Jocelyn, who discovers himself to be a bigamist. He's married to
the co-dramatist and the author, and he never knew it! That I wrote the
book has been a secret until this minute. If you hadn't liked the play,
I never _would_ have admitted that I wrote it. You're the very nicest
first-nighters I ever met, and we are both most grateful to you, the
bigamist and I."

There was wild applause, flowers were tossed from the boxes, calls of
"Brava!" greeted the little bowing figure clinging tightly to the big
man's hand. They finally made their escape to the wings, and Bambi
turned to Jarvis for what was to her the real climax of the evening.

He looked at her so strangely that she laid her hand on his arm.

"You aren't glad?" she questioned, anxiously.

Some members of the company surrounded them with congratulations, and
when they were free they had to hurry out to rescue the rest of
the family.

"What did you think of the secret, Daddy?"

"My child, I am past all thought. I wish to be taken home, put to bed,
and allowed to recover slowly. I have had a shock of surprise that would
kill a less vigorous man."

"But you liked it? You were glad I did it?"

"I am so proud of you that I am imbecile. Let us go home."

Richard shook both her hands in silent congratulation.

"Where is Jarvis?" asked her father.

A search failed to find him. Richard made a trip back on the stage, but
he was not there.

"We won't wait, if you will put us into our cab," Bambi said to him.

He saw them all off, promising to send Jarvis along if he saw him.

"What do you suppose became of him?" demanded the Professor.

But Bambi did not answer. All the triumph of the evening counted for
nothing to her now. Jarvis had been hurt or angered at her r