"
"What a buttercup you are!" she said again.
Soon the curtain rose upon the second act--or scene. Whichever it was,
that was all that I was fated to see or hear of the Opera. And for the
little while I could consider it, I must say I was disappointed. The
scenery was superb, but the voices--
"You've spoiled us, Nelly," Milly whispered.
"Colombo's not bad."
I squeezed her hand ecstatically.
I find that I don't criticise men so shrewdly; but oh, the thin, shrill
pipe of Isabella, compared with what a woman's voice may be! Yet I admired
her skill, and did not wonder that the house applauded.
The second scene was just closing, and I was lost in dreams of the fine
things that I shall do for art and music when I'm a great society leader,
when the box door opened, and there entered an elderly couple, much
alike--tall, thin, rather stately and withered. I knew that they must be
Mrs. Marmaduke Van Dam, the General's mother-in-law, and her husband.
Impulsively I sprang up to allow them to come to the front places.
And then--the catastrophe!
I was conscious at first only of an instant's confusion, of a hurried
introduction in undertones.
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