the window, and _they_ do the rest--as he will."

"Yes, yes; but what am I to do for _you?"_ asked Ina, getting a little
uneasy and suspicious.

"What! didn't I tell you?" said Ashmead, with cool effrontery. "Why, only
to sing for me in this little opera, that is all." And he put his hands
in his pockets, and awaited thunder-claps.

"Oh, that is all, is it?" said Ina, panting a little, and turning two
great, reproachful eyes on him.

"That is all," said he, stoutly. "Why, what attracted him at first?
Wasn't it your singing, the admiration of the public, the bouquets and
bravas? What caught the moth once will catch it again 'moping' won't. And
surely you will not refuse to draw him, merely because you can pull me
out of a fix into the bargain. Look here, I have undertaken to find a
singer by to-morrow night; and what chance is there of my getting even a
third-rate one? Why, the very hour I have spent so agreeably, talking to
you, has diminished my chance."

"Oh!" said Ina, "this is _driving_ me into your net."

"I own it," said Joseph, cheerfully; "I'm quite unscrupulous, because I
know you will thank me afterward."

"The very idea of going back to the stage makes me tremble," said Ina.

"Of course it does; and those who tremble succeed. In a long experience I
never knew an instance to the contrary. It is the conceited fools, who