“That is all,” said he, stoutly. “Why, what attracted him at first? Wasn't it your singing, the admiration of the public, the bouquets and bravas? What caught the moth once will catch it again 'moping' won't. And surely you will not refuse to draw him, merely because you can pull me out of a fix into the bargain. Look here, I have undertaken to find a singer by to-morrow night; and what chance is there of my getting even a third-rate one? Why, the very hour I have spent so agreeably, talking to you, has diminished my chance.”
“Oh!” said Ina, “this is driving me into your net.”
“I own it,” said Joseph, cheerfully; “I'm quite unscrupulous, because I know you will thank me afterward.”
“The very idea of going back to the stage makes me tremble,” said Ina.
“Of course it does; and those who tremble succeed. In a long experience I never knew an instance to the contrary. It is the conceited fools, who feel safe, that are in danger.”
“What is the part?”
“One you know—Siebel in 'Faust,' with two new songs.”
“Excuse me, I do not know it.”
“Why, everybody knows it.”
“You mean everybody has heard it sung. I know neither the music nor the words, and I cannot sing incorrectly even for you.”