"I never liked the fellow," said Mr. Perry coldly. "But
he is hardly the cad that you suppose."

He fell into a gloomy silence. He had wasted two years'
salary in following Lucy Dunbar about, in showering
flowers on her, in posing before her in the last fashions
of Conduit Street, and yet when this conceited fellow
came into the box she was blind and deaf to all besides!
Her eyes filled with tears just now when he talked of
his loneliness. Lonely--with his wife! A married man!

George, when the curtain fell again, sat down by Frances.

"Mother," he said.

"Yes, George." Her eyes were bright and attentive, but
her countenance had fallen into hard lines new to him.

"I went to Morgan's this afternoon. You have been very
liberal to us."

"I will do what I can. You may depend upon that amount,
regularly."

He rose and bade them good-night, and turned to her
again.

"We--we are coming to-morrow to thank you. MOTHER?"
There was a hoarse sob in his throat. He laid his hand
on her arm. She moved so that it dropped. "We will come