"Thanks. Much better. It was the heat."
And she made as if to return to the front of the box, but Stella detained her, fearing that the heat there might again disturb her. So Anna stopped where she was, breathing the fresh air that came through the open door.
"Do you like 'The Huguenots,' Stella?" she asked, for the sake of saying something, in the hope, perhaps, of thus forgetting her desire to see what was going on in the box of the Contessa d'Alemagna.
"Very much. And you?"
"I like it immensely."
"I am afraid—I am afraid that later on you may find it too exciting. You know the fourth act is very terrible. Don't you dread the impression it may make upon you?"
"It won't matter, Stella," she said, with a faint smile.
"Perhaps you would like to go home before the fourth act begins. If you feel nervous about it——"
"I am not nervous," she murmured, as if speaking to herself. "Or, if I am, I'd rather suffer this way than otherwise."
"We were wrong to come," said Stella, shaking her head.