When Stuart had fought his way through the crowd and reached the stage, he found her alone with her father in her room. Her head was resting on his breast and he was stroking the fair young forehead with tender caressing touch. His eyes were dim with tears and his voice could find no words. He turned away from the scene and left them alone for a few moments. He found Nan and asked her to wait for him at the stage door in her automobile until he could give Harriet his congratulations. She consented with a frown, and begged him to hurry. He heard the muffled throb of the big limousine draw up at the stage door as he made his way to Harriet's room. Her father was still there and a crowd of musicians, singers, and critics were waiting in a group outside to offer their congratulations. She was holding them back until his arrival. When Stuart entered she dropped her father's hand, started toward him with her lips parted in a joyous smile and extended both hands. Instead of taking them he slipped his arm about her slender waist, drew her quickly to his heart and kissed her. The girl's extended white arms by an instinctive impulse found their way around his neck, and her head sank on his breast. "My glorious little pal!" he whispered, his voice choking with emotion. "I'm the proudest man in the world to-night." "It's all your work Jim," she said simply. "You suggested and willed it and I've made good under your inspiration. I'd rather see the happiness on your face and hear your words of approval than all the applause of that crowd." "And you are perfectly happy?" he asked with enthusiasm. "Certainly not!" she cried, emphatically. "No real woman ever does this for the thing itself. It's done only to please her hero that is, or is to be. I shall never be perfectly happy until I've a little nest of my own and the man I love is always by my side." "He'll be a lucky man, little girl. And he must be a good one to get my consent. You can't marry without it you know." "I shall not!" she answered with a laugh. When Harriet drew herself quietly from Stuart's arms he turned and saw Nan standing in the doorway, with a curious smile on her flushed face. "May I, too, offer my congratulations, Miss Woodman?" she asked. "I hope you have forgotten the lack of appreciation you met at the hands of my crowd of thoughtless banqueters in the ovation you have had this evening." Harriet's little figure suddenly stiffened at the sight of Nan, but at the sound of her friendly voice, relaxed, and moved to meet the extended hand. "Thank you, Mrs. Bivens," she replied cordially. "I couldn't hold a grudge against any one in that audience to-night." And then Stuart did something that sent a shock through every fibre of Nan's being. As easily and naturally as a big brother, he slipped one of his long arms around Harriet and looked down with frank admiration into her eyes.