"I cannot be mistaken. He is come at last!"
But the next moment she stood face to face with the handsome manager, Cameron Clemens.
And as he entered there was a soft little swish of skirts as Cissy fled to the next room.
"How she hates anybody connected with the stage!" thought Geraldine, amusedly.
The manager had come to entreat her to reconsider her resignation.
He could get some one else to take the place of Standish in the play, if she would only go on, he said.
But Geraldine was obdurate. She told the manager frankly that she was engaged, and her betrothed objected to her return to the stage.
"I am very sorry for your disappointment," she said; "I like you, and you have been very kind to me, but my betrothed objects, you see, and that settles the case with me."
Mr. Clemens did not fly into a rage, as many another would have done in his place. He wished Geraldine joy, told her that the stage had lost an ornament in her withdrawal from it, presented her with the amount of salary still due her, and took a courteous leave.
He knew that he could put on another play, in which the remainder of the company could do very well that night, but he sorely regretted the loss of Geraldine, who had certainly proved a drawing card.