The operatic portion of the program at an end, the guests were treated to a brief lecture on the art of sculpture. Tea was served. The guests departed. Through it all Jeanne walked about in a daze. “It is as if I had been invited to my own wedding and did not so much as know I was married,” she said to Florence, later in the day.
Florence smiled and made no reply. There was more to come, much more. Florence believed that. But Jeanne had not so much as guessed.
CHAPTER XXXI
FLORENCE MEETS THE LADY IN BLACK
The great hour came at last. “To-night,” Jeanne had whispered, “‘The Magic Curtain’ will unfold before thousands! Will it be a success?”
The very thought that it might prove a failure turned her cold. The happiness of her good friends, Angelo, Swen and Marjory Dean was at stake. And to Jeanne the happiness of those she respected and loved was more dear than her own.
Night came quite suddenly on that eventful day. Great dark clouds, sweeping in from the lake, drew the curtain of night.
Jeanne found herself at her place among the boxes a full hour before the time required. This was not of her own planning. There was a mystery about this; a voice had called her on the telephone requesting her to arrive early.
“Now I am here,” she murmured, “and the place is half dark. Who can have requested it? What could have been the reason?”
Still another mystery. Florence was with her. And she was to remain. A place had been provided for her in the box usually occupied by Rosemary Robinson and her family.
“Of course,” she had said to Florence, “they know that we had something to do with the discovery of the magic curtain. It is, perhaps, because of this that you are here.”