"What were you doing just now? Were you scared? Was it stage fright?" "Oh no." Louise smiled faintly. "Then what were you doing?" Louise considered. "I was dead. I had jumped, you know. I was finding out how it would feel." "Louise! You gruesome child!" "I liked it--it was so quiet. I'd forgotten about shifting the scenery. I'm sorry. Does it--did it hurt him, do you think, the falling?" Alwynne put both her hands on the thin shoulders and shook her gently. "Louise! Wake up! You're not Prince Arthur now! Gracious me, child--it's only a play. You mustn't take it so seriously." Louise made no answer; she did not seem to understand. Alwynne was struck by a new idea. She took the child's face in her hand and turned it to the gaslight. "Did I see you at lunch, Louise? I don't believe I did. Do you know you're a very naughty child to take advantage of the confusion?" "Miss Durand, I had to learn. I was forgetting it all. I slipped the last two lines as it was--you know, the 'My uncle's spirit is in these stones' bit. I wasn't hungry." "And you were very late, too. What did you have for breakfast?" An agitated face peered round the corner. "Miss Durand, which side do I come on from? Hubert's nearly off." "The left." Alwynne hurried to the rescue, dragging Louise after her. She hustled the anxious courier to his entrance, twitched his mantle into position, and saw him safely on the stage. Then she turned to Louise. "Louise, will you please go to the kitchen and ask Mrs. Random for two cups of tea and some buns--at once. There is some tea made, I know. I'm tired and thirsty--two cups, please. Bring it to me here, and don't run into any one with your hands full. Be quick--I'm dying for some." Louise darted away on her errand. Poor Daffy did look hot and flustered.... Daffy was such a dear ... every one worried her ... it was a shame.... Wouldn't Daffy have been a pleasant mother? Better than shouting Constance.... What was it she had asked for? A plum, a cherry and a fig? No, that wasn't it. Oh, of course, tea--tea and buns. Alwynne looked after her, smiling and frowning; she was not in the least thirsty. What a baby it was.... But nothing to eat all day! Mrs. Denny ought to be ashamed of herself.... She, Alwynne, would keep a vigilant eye on her to-morrow, poor little soul.... Had she really lost herself so entirely in the part--or was there a touch of pose? No, that was more Agatha's line.... Agatha was enjoying herself.... She listened amusedly, watching through a crack in the screen, till a far-away chink caught her ear. She went out again into the passage, and met Louise with a laden tray. Alwynne drank with expressive pantomime and motioned to the other cup. "Drink it up," she commanded. "It's a second cup--for you----" began Louise. "Be a good child and do as you're told! I must fly in a minute."