"I must do it," she said to herself; "I cannot let things continue as they have been."
"Oh! it gets easier further on," she continued, "as Humpty Dumpty said; and you'll understand it all when you hear the overture again, according to your new lights. Of course, the Venusberg is only an interlude in Tannhäuser's life, and everyone has interludes in their lives, or else they would not be human. Tannhäuser is a pilgrim, and the pilgrims march about to slow music all the time. Venus, of course, does not go about to slow music—quite the contrary, in fact; and, when you hear the two together, the contrast is very striking. Tannhäuser goes away from Venusberg, you know, before the end, and dies in the odour of sanctity."
Eva stopped for a moment, and Jim Armine laughed again.
"You are admirably lucid," he said. "You seldom explain yourself so well."
"Thanks for the compliment," said Eva. "And you, Reggie, do you find me lucid?"
Reggie was listening to her with a puzzled air.
"I expect I shall understand better when I've seen it," he said.
"Yes; you can't fail to understand it then," said Eva, "or, if you don't, you will be even more charming than I thought you. I wonder if you are capable of it. I am talking nonsense to-night; you must forget it to-morrow."
"As long as you remember it just during the opera," said Jim maliciously.