‘You aren’t going to the concert, auntie?’ I almost sobbed.

She sat in her rocking-chair, and the gray woollen shawl thrown round her shoulders mingled with her gray hair. Her long, handsome face was a little pale, and her dark eyes darker than usual.

‘I don’t feel well enough,’ she replied calmly.

She had not observed the tremor in my voice.

‘But what’s the matter?’ I insisted.

‘Nothing in particular, my dear. I do not feel equal to the exertion.’

‘But, auntie—then I can’t go, either.’

‘I’m very sorry, dear,’ she said. ‘We will go to the next concert.’

‘Diaz will never come again!’ I exclaimed passionately. ‘And the tickets will be wasted.’

‘My dear,’ my Aunt Constance repeated, ‘I am not equal to it. And you cannot go alone.’