"He can stay on here. But I am afraid he doesn't like us," Miss Nellie sighed.
"Has he no one else?"
"No—that is, a stepfather. But his mother put him here to save him from the stepfather's abuse, and—and all the coarsening influences of stage life, if you understand."
"Ah, yes, I understand," said Madame d'Avala. "And yet I think I understand the little one, too. He and I—we have the same nature. We cannot breathe in the too-high altitudes. For us there must be dancing in the valley, laughter and roses, perfume and sunshine—always sunshine."
"Oh—er—yes," replied Miss Nellie, taken aback by this effusiveness, which she could only explain as being foreign.
"It's 8:30," said Miss Eva, looking at her watch.
"Ah, then I must fly," cried Madame d'Avala.
"Goo'-bye!" said Freddy wistfully.
"Au revoir," said Madame d'Avala, and electrified the Misses Blair by adding, "See you after the show, kid."
"I am very lonely, too," said Margarita d'Avala after the concert—"lonely and sad."