The next evening, when Sylvia and Queenie presented themselves for the performance, the manager told them that they were dismissed: he could not afford to let the Petit Trianon gain a disorderly reputation. Sylvia was glad that the decision of taking a definite step had been settled over her head. As they were passing out, they met Lottie looking very happy. "I've been engaged for three hundred francs to play the piano in the orchestra. The accompanist broke his wrist last night in the row," she told them. "So they sent for me in a hurry." "We've been sacked," Sylvia said. "Oh, I am sorry!" the fat girl exclaimed, trying to curb her own pleasure. "What will you do?" Sylvia shrugged her shoulders. "Why don't you go to Galantza and Bralatz and Avereshti? You ought to be able to get engagements there in the summer-time--especially at Avereshti." Sylvia nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, that's rather an idea. But, Lottie, don't tell Zozo where we've gone. Good-by! Good luck! I'm glad you've got an engagement." "Yes, I shall leave that room now. It smells, rather, as the summer gets on." The next morning Sylvia and Queenie left Bucharest for Galantza. CHAPTER V NEITHER in Galantza nor in Bralatz did Sylvia and Queenie perceive any indication of a fortune. They performed for a week at the Variétés High Life in Bralatz; but the audience and the salary were equally low, the weather was hot and misty, and the two hotels they tried were full of bugs. In Galantza they performed for two days at the Variétés Tiptop; but here both the audience and the salary were lower still, the weather was hotter and more misty, and there were as many bugs in the one hotel as in the two hotels at Bralatz put together. Sylvia thought she should like to visit the British vice-consul who had angered Maud so much by his indifference to her future. He was a pleasant young man, not recognizable from her description of him except by the fact that he certainly did smoke incessantly. He invited them both to dine and grumbled loudly at the fate which had planted him down in this God-forsaken corner of Rumania in war-time. He was disappointed to hear that they could not stay in Galantza, but agreed with them about the audience and the salary. "I can't think who advised you to come here," he exclaimed. "Though I'm glad you did come; it has cheered me up a bit." "It wasn't Maud," Sylvia said, with a smile. "Maud?" he repeated. "Who is she?" "An English girl who took a great fancy to you. She wanted you to pay her fare to Bucharest." "Oh, my hat! a most fearful creature," he laughed. "A great, pink, blowsy woman with a voice like two trains shunting. I had a terrible time with her. Upon my word, I had actually to push her out of the Consulate. Oh, an altogether outrageous phenomenon! What became of her finally? In Bucharest, is she? Well, she's not a good advertisement of our country in these times. What part of England do you come from?" he added, turning to Queenie.