E. Phillips Oppenheim

“ You are not angry with me for obeying her? I was not sure what you wished me to do. You said nothing! You did not even come with me to the carriage. She stood between us, and though, when she looked at me, she seemed kind, I felt that she was very angry with you. Why? Do write me, dear, and tell me. You know that nothing could change me. I shall always be your loving,
Esther. P. S.—Aunt Amelia has been so kind to-day. I felt that I must tell her about you. Would it matter very much, do you think?
Leverson received this note on his return from a supper-party after the theatre. ”

“ Fashions move always in a circle. She, too, had twisted her hair somewhat in that fashion, had worn a rose instead of a ribbon, had sought with something of the same almost plaintive eagerness to understand, if only dimly, the life which throbbed on every side of her. Who was she? A ghost? An actual unit of the audience, a living and breathing person, or a creature of the fancy only? The violins of the orchestra swayed less and less, the music died away. There was silence, and then the tinkling of a little bell. The curtain had risen. ”

“ But I warn you, Emily, the critics won't like it.”
“The critics!”
“People are so like sheep. They need some one to direct them. They do not see the ass's skin, only the mantle of the prophet. And our friends of the press do not like to be trifled with.”
The woman sat still, with her back to him. The perfume of his cigarette, his presence in her room, the easy nonchalance of his manner, stung her. She still looked into the mirror, and still she saw the same things.
“I must play the part,” she said, in a low tone, “as I feel it.” ”

“ Leverson,” Emily said. “I am going to take possession of Miss Campbell for a little time.”
Leverson withdrew with a subdued grumble meant to sound good-natured, but not altogether successful. Emily made the girl sit down on a lounge by her side.
“I noticed you quite at the beginning of the play,” she said, smiling. “You seemed so absorbed, and you know we people on the stage love to act to people who are interested.”
“I think it is marvelous,” the child said, still a little shyly, “to think that any one can act like you do. I can scarcely believe that I am really here talking to you.” ”

“ You almost frightened me with the reality of it, and one could hear the audience holding their breaths—it was supreme. To-night you rise phœnix-like to a virtue which holds evil things abashed. If you are the actual courtezan, you are also the embodiment of all the opposite things in life. ”

“ Emily Royce did well to get rid of him. He was always an overrated man. Now, we shall see.”
Half-way through the first act, his friend whispered to the critic:
“Which is it going to be?”
“The realism!” the critic answered. “Look at that gesture! Ugh!”
A little party who had arrived late stole into their places, a tall, gray-haired man, followed by a younger one, both deeply bronzed, both obviously soldiers—a beautiful girl with wonderful eyes, and the duke. The critic reached suddenly for his glasses.
“Watch Emily Royce,” he whispered. “She is ill.” ”

“ For some reason or other, on the night of the hundredth performance, Emily Royce chose to transform her whole rendering of the part. That accounts for the extraordinary diversity of opinion you meet with concerning the play. There are women who say that when they came they preferred a dark seat, and would sooner have taken their daughters to the old Moulin Rouge. ”

“ I'll look after Esther.”
“You dear!” the child exclaimed, clinging to his arm. “You don't mind, Aunt Amelia?”
Miss Amelia sighed. “Your uncle would not suggest anything unbefitting, my dear,” she said, “Our approval is, of course, quite another matter.”
So, presently, Esther found herself in the strangest place she had ever imagined in her life. She was on the stage, shut off now from the house by the drop-curtain, and thronged with crowds of men and women in evening dress. Servants in livery were handing round champagne and sandwiches ”

“ You seem to be trying to transform a magnificent piece of realism into an idyll. At this theatre, we do not play to school-children.”
She abandoned the subject a little abruptly. It did not interest her to discuss these things with him. ”

“ It sounds terrible, doesn't it, but there is really nothing to fear, and it is much the safest way of meeting. I have wired to my sister to come up and stay with me so as to make everything quite right for you, but, of course, in London no one pretends to be quite so conventional as in the country. ”

“ He faced them—self-proclaimed a craven. The girl looked into his face, and she turned very white. Then she turned to Emily. She did not ask him any question at all.
“I have been very foolish,” she said, softly. “I did not know—that there were people like this in the world. Will you take me away?”
The duke remained behind. He was a strong man, and Leverson was a coward. Leverson did not play that night, nor for many succeeding ones.
III
A critic in the stall shook open his programme. ”