“Not at all.”
“It is imperative that I catch a train for New York at twelve.”
Mr. Ludlow took his leave, after expressing his pleasure at having met Dorothy.
The girl’s feelings would be hard to describe. That her playing should have awakened the interest of a professional manager was to her rather astonishing.
She was meditating over the offer, and wondering what her prim and staid Aunt Betty would think of it, when Frau Deichenberg entered the dressing-room. The Frau had been on the stage looking after several of the Herr’s protégés, and was highly elated over the showing they had made.
“My dear, my dear,” she cried. “You have done nobly! Herr Deichenberg is pleased with you beyond measure.”
To which Dorothy responded:
“If I have deserved his praise, I am glad. But it seems that I have done so little.”
“Ah, but did you not hear de audience? Dey liked your moosic, und dey clap their hands und stamp their feet. Dat iss de one true mark of appreciation.”
When the concert was over and Dorothy was traveling homeward in the barouche with Aunt Betty, she told her of the visit of Mr. Ludlow. Aunt Betty listened patiently until she had finished, then said: