Through her fingers she could contemplate her accompanist’s lanky figure as he stood in the opposite wing busily powdering his nose. The moment, it seemed, had come. Yet not quite—the public, who loved tradition, was determined on obtaining an encore. Lady Mary was prepared to acquiesce. Curtseying from side to side and wafting kisses to the gods, she announced: “The Death of Hortense; by _Desire._” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ XII The Source Theatre. DEAR MOTHER,—I saw your notice in a newspaper not very long ago, and this morning I came across it again in the _Dispatch._ Really I don’t know what there can be to “forgive,” and as to “coming back!”—I have undertaken the management of this theatre, where rehearsals of _Romeo and Juliet_ have already begun. This is the little house where Audrey Anderson made her début, and where Avize Mendoza made such a hit. You could imagine nothing cosier or more intimate if you tried. Father would be charmed (tell him, for, of course, he sometimes speaks of me in the long _triste_ evenings as he smokes a pipe) with the foyer, which has a mural design in marquetry, showing Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, sunning themselves by the side of a well. They say the theatre contains a well _beneath the stage_, which is why it’s known as the Source. I have left, I’m glad to say, the hotel, which was getting dreadfully on my nerves, for a dressing-room here, where I pass the nights now: an arrangement that suits me, as I like to be on the spot. A sister of Ita Iris of the Dream Theatre keeps me company, so that I’m not a bit solitary. We understand each other to perfection, and I find her helpful to me in many ways. She is such an affectionate child and I do not think I shall regret it. I’ve decided to have half my teeth taken out by a man in Knightsbridge—some trial to me, I fear; but, alas, we’ve all to carry our cross! I seem to have nothing but debts. Clothes, _as well_ as scenery, would ruin anyone. I’m allotting a little box to you and father for the opening night, unless you would prefer two stalls? The other afternoon I “offered my services” and obtained three curtains at a gala matinée; I wish you could have been at it! Your devoted Daughter. I went to the Oratory on Sunday; it was nothing but a blaze of candles. Remember me to Leonard and Gripper—also Kate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ XIII