JIM'S WAY
THE boys were back in London the following night, and Jack expressed a wish to go to Covent Garden to see Mme Beteta, whose fame as a dancer had penetrated even to his den at Chatham, and of whose expressed desire to see him Jim had told him, among the many other novel experiences of his life in the metropolis.
"Why on earth should she want to see me?" asked Jack.
"No idea. She might not mean it, but she certainly said it. There's a lot of humbug about."
"I'd like to be able to say I've seen her dancing, anyway, though I don't care overmuch for that kind of thing. But every one's talking about her, and most of the fellows have been up to see her."
So they went, and madame's keen eyes spied them out, for, during the first interval, an attendant came round, and asking Jim, "Are you Mr. Carron?" brought him a request from madame that he would pay her a visit in her room and would bring his friend with him.
"I knew it must be your brother," she said, as she greeted them. "Yes, you are much alike."
"We used to be," said Jack, "but we're growing out of it now."
"To your friends perhaps, but a stranger could not mistake you for anything but twin-brothers," she smiled through the dusky plumes of her big fan.
"You, also, are hoping to go to the war?" she asked Jack.