Very late in the night Crayford's voice said:
"That's the best libretto since Carmen, and I know something about libretti."
Charmian had her reward. He added, after a minute:
"Your reading, Mrs. Heath, was bully, simply bully!"
Charmian was silent. Her eyes were full of tears. At that moment she was incapable of speech. Alston Lake cleared his throat.
"Say," began Crayford, after a prolonged pause, during which he seemed to be thinking profoundly, pulling incessantly at his beard, and yielding to a strong attack of the tic which sometimes afflicted him—"say, can't you get that husband of yours to come right back from wherever he is?"
With an effort, Charmian regained self-control.
"Oh, yes, I could, of course. But—but I think he needs the holiday he is taking badly."
"Been working hard has he, sweating over the music?"
"Yes."