"Yes, yes," said Charmian, changing, melting almost into happiness. "Oh, I am glad you've come, even though it entails Adelaide for a day or two. Of course she knows about the opera?" "Yes, she does." "I knew." She looked into Susan's face, smiled, and concluded: "Never mind!" At five o'clock that day the peace of Djenan-el-Maqui was broken by the sound of animated voices in the courtyard. A bell jangled and a moment later Pierre, with his most birdlike demeanor, ushered into the drawing-room Mrs. Shiffney, Madame Sennier, her husband, and Max Elliot. "What a dear little house!" said Mrs. Shiffney, looking quickly round her with searching eyes, while they waited for their hostess. "Nothing worth twopence-halfpenny, but nothing wrong. I declare I quite envy them." "It's charming!" said Max Elliot. "Love in a harem! Better than in a cottage." Madame Sennier pushed up her huge floating veil and showed her powerful face of a clown covered with white pigment. Her lips made a scarlet bar across it. "What is she like? I remember the man. He's clever." "Oh, she--she is charming; thin and charming." "That's well!" observed the composer. "That's very well." He appeared to have quite recovered from his despair, and now looked almost defiantly cheerful. Small in body, with a narrow chest and shoulders, and a weakly growing beard, he was nevertheless remarkable, even striking in appearance. His large nose suggested Semitic blood, but also power, which was shown, too, in his immense forehead and strong, energetic head. He had a habit of blinking his eyes. But they were fine eyes, full of feeling, imagination, and emotion, but also at moments full of sarcasm and shrewdness. His dark, hairy and small hands were rather monkeylike, and looked destructive. "Every woman should be thin and charming," he continued. "The camel species, the elephant-type, the cowlike ruminating specimen--milky mother of the lowing herd, as an English poet has expressed it, and very well, too--should"--he flung out one little hairy hand vehemently--"_go_ with the advance of corset-makers and civilization. She comes!" The door had opened, and Charmian came in. Instantly her eyes fastened on Madame Sennier. She was so surprised that she stood still by the door, and her whole face was suffused with blood. So much had this woman meant, did she still mean in Charmian's life, that even the habit of the world did not help Charmian to complete self-control at this moment. "I'm afraid our coming has quite startled you," said Mrs. Shiffney. "Didn't Susan tell you we were going to look in?" "Yes, of course. I'm delighted!" Charmian moved. She was secretly furious with herself. Max Elliot took her hand, and Mrs. Shiffney carelessly introduced the Senniers. "What a dear little retreat you've found here, and how deliciously you've arranged everything," she said. "You've made a perfect nest for your genius. We are all longing to see him."