152 ANOTHER OLD ACQUAINTANCE.

‘occupy one of the stage-boxes. The gentlemen took
with them bouquets and wreaths of flowers, to fling as
offerings atgthe feet of the queen of the night: rings, it
was said, ornaments of great value, had frequently
been conveyed to her feet in this way, and Mrs. Wil-
liams gave to her husband a small wreath of myrtle

and jasmine, which, she said, if he found her to be as °

beautiful as she was said to be good, he was to fling to
her also.

A strange, bewildering, dream-like feeling came
over Williams as he stood behind the row of ladies of
their party, waiting for the drawing up of the curtain.
The orchestra played Mozart’s overture to Don Juan.
His mind went back tothose strange, far-off days when
he stood in the little theatre at Utceter, waiting
for the drawing up of the curtain, to see her whom
he then reckoned the angel of his life. Fancy is
a very powerful anda very deceptive thing ; the great
house seemed to dwarf itself down to the dimensions of
the little one—the gay audience were the dowdy gentry
of acountry-town. The huge curtain drew up, and
there, like the glorified image of the heroine of former
days, stood the splendidly attired, and serenely beau-
tiful Mademoiselle Angela. The whole house rose,

 

and the gentlemen shouted for very enthusiasm ; the ~

ladies waved their handkerchiefs, and the newspapers
of the next morning said that nothing could exceed
the rapture with which the young actress was received,

“T protest!” exclaimed one of the gentlemen in

their box, “that Williams has been standing like a.

mummy all this time.”

Poor Williams ! and there was good reason why he
had done so. A dizziness had come over him; he
fancied that he must have fainted, but nobody then