“Ask him if Mr. Kuhlmann is still in the theatre?” she said.
The man was busy putting a padlock on a bar of the door, and in a moment her servant returned to her.
“He says Mr. Kuhlmann has not been singing to-night, my lady,” he said.
“Ask him to speak to me a moment,” she said.
The man left the half-barred door and came to her carriage.
“Mr. Kuhlmann surely has been singing in Tristan to-night,” she said.
“No, ma’am. There was an understudy singing to-night. Mr. Kuhlmann was here yesterday afternoon, and cancelled his engagements for the rest of the season. There’s been a great to-do at the box-office, for a lot of ladies and gentlemen wanted their money returned.”
“And where is he? What has happened? Is he ill?”
“Couldn’t say, ma’am.”
The man paused a moment.