proportionable."

"Yes; but he said I embraced one poor stick, with a fervor--an
_abandon_-- Well, I dare say I did; for, if they had put a gate-post in
the middle of the stage, and it was in my part to embrace the thing, I
should have done it honestly, for love of my art, and not of a post. The
next time I had to embrace the poor stick it was all I could do not to
pinch him savagely."

"And turn him to a counter-tenor--make him squeak."

Ina Klosking smiled for the first time. Ashmead, too, chuckled at his own
wit, but turned suddenly grave the next moment, and moralized. He
pronounced it desirable, for the interests of mankind, that a great and
rising singer should not love out of the business; outsiders were
wrong-headed and absurd, and did not understand the true artist. However,
having discoursed for some time in this strain, he began to fear it might
be unpalatable to her; so he stopped abruptly, and said, "But there--what
is done is done. We must make the best of it; and you mustn't think I
meant to run _him_ down. He loves you, in his way. He must be a noble
fellow, or he never could have won such a heart as yours. He won't be
jealous of an old fellow like me, though I love you, too, in my humdrum
way, and always did. You must do me the honor to present me to him at
once."

Ina stared at him, but said nothing.

"Oh," continued Ashmead, "I shall be busy till evening; but I will ask
him and you to dine with me at the Kursaal, and then adjourn to the Royal
Box. You are a queen of song, and that is where you and he shall sit, and