'Well,' he answered slowly, as they seated themselves side by side on the hard green sofa, 'I don't suppose I can explain, so that you'll understand, but I'll try. Different kinds of things brought me. I heard you were here from Lady Maud, and I thought perhaps I might have an opportunity for a little talk. And then—oh, I don't know. I've seen everything worth seeing except a battle and Parsifal, and as it seemed so easy, and you were here, I thought I'd have a look at the opera, since I can't see the fight.'
Margaret laughed a little.
'I hope you will like it,' she said. 'Have you a good seat?' [{137}]
'I haven't got a ticket yet,' answered Mr. Van Torp, in blissful ignorance.
'No seat!' The Primadonna's surprise was almost dramatic. 'But how in the world do you expect to get one now? Don't you know that the seats for Parsifal are all taken months beforehand?'
'Are they really?' He was very calm about it. 'Then I suppose I shall have to get a ticket from a speculator. I don't see anything hard about that.'
'My dear friend, there are no speculators here, and there are no tickets to be had. You might as well ask for the moon!'
'I can stand, then. I'm not afraid of getting tired.'
'There are no standing places at all! No one is allowed to go in who has not a seat. A week ago you might possibly have picked up one in Munich, given up by some one at the last moment, but such chances are jumped at! I wonder that you even got a place to sleep!'
'Well, it's not much of a place,' said Mr. Van Torp, thoughtfully. 'There's one room the size of a horsebox, one bed, one basin, one pitcher and one towel, and I've brought my valet with me. I've concluded to let him sleep while I'm at the opera, and he'll sit up when I want to go to bed. Box and Cox. I don't know what he'll sit on, for there's no chair, but he's got to sit.'