Madame Stock looked at her wonderingly.
"Hilda, Hilda, have you gone mad?"
Hilda went over to her and put her arms about her and whispered:
"Oh, mamma, mamma, he loves me; he has just told me so."
Her mother started:
"He! Who loves you, Hilda? What do you mean?"
Hilda's eyes drooped, and then she saw the photograph in the soprano's hand.
It was Albert's....
"I love him—you have his picture—he gave it to you for me? Oh! he has spoken, Dearest, he has spoken."
The picture dropped to the floor....