At dinner Sir Karl seemed in better spirits than usual. He told them he had been to the Opera to hear the new singer, Ilma di Murska, in "Robert le Diable."
"Oh, Karl!--and not to have had me with you!" cried Lucy.
"I will take you up on purpose, Lucy. You must hear her. In the song 'Robert, toi que j'aime' she electrified us all. I never heard anything like it in my life. And she is most elegant on the stage. Her dresses are splendid."
"Was anyone there that you knew?"
"I hardly looked at the house at all. I was in the stalls. The Prince and Princess of Wales were in the royal box."
"I am sure, Karl, it is a wonder to hear that you went!"
"True, Lucy; but my evenings hung heavily on my hands. What with Plunkett and Plunkett and other business matters, the days were busy enough: I used to wish the evenings were. I felt very dull."
"Just as I have been feeling here, Karl, without you."
His answer to his wife was but a look; but Miss Blake wished she had not caught it. What had she done, that his love should have missed her to be lavished on this girl-child?
"Sir Karl," she cried somewhat abruptly, "who is Mr. Smith?"