CHAPTER VII

"MR. BOB"

"If his heart at high floods
Swamped his brain now and then,
'T was but richer for that
When the tide ebbed again."

A LARGE audience assembled that night to witness "The Greatest
Extravaganza of the Century." The Opera House was a blaze of light
and color.

From the recesses of one of the boxes, Redding made a careful survey
of the faces beneath him. First nights usually found him there, with
the same restless, eager look in his eyes. Tonight he evidently
failed to find what he sought, and was turning listlessly away when
he stopped suddenly, bent forward, then smiled broadly. He had
caught sight of Billy's red comforter.

The boy's hair was plastered close to his head, and his face was
transformed by soap and happiness. Redding glanced quizzically at
the rest of the party--at the mother's radiant countenance beaming
from the dusk of her crepe veil, at the three little girls in their
composite costumes, at the carnations pinned on each bosom. Then he
deliberately turned his back on "The Greatest Extravaganza of the
Century," and centered his attention on the parquet group.