"Why don't you go to Galantza and Bralatz and Avereshti? You ought to be able to get engagements there in the summer-time—especially at Avereshti."
Sylvia nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, that's rather an idea. But, Lottie, don't tell Zozo where we've gone. Good-by! Good luck! I'm glad you've got an engagement."
"Yes, I shall leave that room now. It smells, rather, as the summer gets on."
The next morning Sylvia and Queenie left Bucharest for Galantza.
CHAPTER V
NEITHER in Galantza nor in Bralatz did Sylvia and Queenie perceive any indication of a fortune. They performed for a week at the Variétés High Life in Bralatz; but the audience and the salary were equally low, the weather was hot and misty, and the two hotels they tried were full of bugs. In Galantza they performed for two days at the Variétés Tiptop; but here both the audience and the salary were lower still, the weather was hotter and more misty, and there were as many bugs in the one hotel as in the two hotels at Bralatz put together. Sylvia thought she should like to visit the British vice-consul who had angered Maud so much by his indifference to her future. He was a pleasant young man, not recognizable from her description of him except by the fact that he certainly did smoke incessantly. He invited them both to dine and grumbled loudly at the fate which had planted him down in this God-forsaken corner of Rumania in war-time. He was disappointed to hear that they could not stay in Galantza, but agreed with them about the audience and the salary.
"I can't think who advised you to come here," he exclaimed. "Though I'm glad you did come; it has cheered me up a bit."
"It wasn't Maud," Sylvia said, with a smile.
"Maud?" he repeated. "Who is she?"
"An English girl who took a great fancy to you. She wanted you to pay her fare to Bucharest."