"You never told me you had been to the theatre."
"I have told you often that I have been with Aunt and Uncle Leth to different theatres."
"But to this particular one, where the opera was played?"
"Yes, I told you, father. You must have forgotten it."
"The opera! An expensive amusement which only rich people can afford. Your aunt took you, of course?"
"Yes."
"And she is poor, eh?—so very, very poor that it is quite wonderful how she manages!"
"She had a ticket given to her for a box that almost touched the ceiling. She could not afford to pay for it. Every time she has taken me to a theatre it was with a ticket given to her by Uncle Leth's relations. She is poor."
"And I am poorer. If you have read about Faust—if you go to the theatre and see him, why do you call me wicked for simply speaking of him? Is there really any truth in it, I wonder? There are strange things in the world. Could life and youth be bought? If it could—if it could——" He paused, and looked around with trembling eagerness.
Phœbe was too much frightened to speak for a little while; her father's eager looks and words terrified her. In a few minutes he recovered himself, and said, coldly,