In the semi-obscurity Charmian saw a very big man, whom she had never seen before, getting up from a chair.
"I beg your pardon," she exclaimed, startled. "I didn't know—"
"Charmian! Is it you?"
Adelaide Shiffney's voice came from beyond the big man.
"Adelaide! You've come to our rehearsal!"
"Yes. Let me introduce Mr. Jonson Ramer to you. This is Mrs. Heath, Jonson, the genius's good angel. Sit down with us for a minute, Charmian."
Adelaide Shiffney's deep voice was almost suspiciously cordial. But Charmian's sense of relief was so great that she accepted the invitation, and sat down feeling strangely happy.
But almost instantly with the laying to rest of one anxiety came the birth of another.
"Well, what do you think of the opera?" she asked, trying to speak carelessly.
Jonson Ramer leaned toward her. He thought she looked pretty, and he liked pretty women even more than most men do.