Gillier looked hard at Claude, and Charmian thought she detected admiration in his eyes.
"Men need to be cool when the critical moment is at hand," he remarked. "I learned that long ago in Algeria."
"Then you are not nervous now?"
"Nerves are for women!" he returned.
But the expression in his face belied his words.
"Claude is cooler than he is!" Charmian thought.
She went to put on her hat and her sealskin coat. She longed, yet dreaded to start.
When they arrived at the stage-door of the Opera House the dark young man came from his office on the right with his hands full of letters, and, smiling, distributed them to Charmian, Claude and Gillier.
"It will be a go!" he said, in a clear voice. "Everyone says so. Mr. Crayford is up in his office. He wants to see Mr. Heath. There's the elevator!"
At this moment the lift appeared, sinking from the upper regions under the guidance of a smiling colored man.