"Then tell him, after the play," replied Martha. "He must know the curtain is just about to rise on the first act."
"He knows that," responded Weldon, sincerely sorry at the awkward predicament in which he saw things were becoming involved. "I know that, but please, for my sake, see him, if only for a few moments."
"That's a strange request," pondered Martha. "But if you really want it, Mr. Weldon, of course I will comply. You have done so much for me that indeed I ought to."
"I will send him here at once," said Weldon, quickly, and disappeared through the boxes.
"Gordon?" said Martha, wonderingly to herself. Then to her maid: "Lizzie, go and watch for my entrance."
CHAPTER XIII
BEFORE THE CURTAIN ROSE
Gordon stopped short before Martha, involuntarily impressed at the pleasing picture she made, clad in her simple but effective first-act dress, as she half kneeled on the ottoman in the center of the green-room, repeating to herself the lines from her part, which she held in her hand and at which she occasionally glanced to refresh her memory.