When the song had ended, she turned to him and said, abruptly:
“I love that lady.”
A strange sense of joy throbbed through the man’s heart at these words. They were something more than a surprise.
“She is good and kind,” said Clementina, with the same tone of conviction. “I wish she would come back.”
Rhodes, for his part, rather dreaded that return, for fear the sweet impression might be destroyed. But when she afterward appeared as a smart hussar, and sang a barrack song, and then as a vivandière and gurgled her song from over a tin canteen, the impression which she had made upon the child was evidently not disturbed.
It was noticeable, however, that the Tarara was the only one of the performers who had found favor with Clementina. The others either bored her, or roused a feeling of disapproval, which that strong little face well knew how to express.
The last appearance of the Tarara was in a ballet costume, and as she floated out on the stage and pirouetted up to the footlights, Rhodes glanced with real timidity at the child. He dreaded the effect of the bare limbs and painted face upon this austere judge. But Clementina’s eyes were fixed with a look of unmixed pleasure upon the dancer, who, as Clem now saw to his amazement, caught and returned her gaze.
It was for a second only, but there could be no doubt of it, and the child saw it, also, for she flushed with happiness and said, under her breath:
“Oh, the sweet lady!”
With the same look of confidence and content, she followed every movement until the dance was ended.