Mrs. Rushmore had not been at all surprised at Lushington's sudden

departure. She was accustomed to the habits of lions and was well aware

that they must be allowed to come and go exactly as they please if you

wish them to eat out of your hand from time to time; and when the

eminent young critic announced rather suddenly that he must leave early

the next morning the good lady only said that she was sorry, and that

she hoped he would come back soon. Sham lions love to talk about

themselves, and to excite curiosity, but real ones resent questions

about their doings as they would resent a direct insult. Mrs. Rushmore

knew that, too.

She was really sorry to lose him, however, and had counted on his

staying at least a week longer. She liked him herself, and she saw that

Margaret liked him very much; and it was more moral in a nice girl to

like an Englishman than a foreigner, just as it would be still more

moral of her to prefer an American to an Englishman, according to Mrs.

Rushmore's scale of nationalities. Next to what was moral, she was fond

of lions, who are often persons without any morals whatsoever. But

Lushington seemed to fill both requirements. He was a highly moral

lion. She was quite sure that he did not drink, did not gamble, and did

not secretly worship Ashtaroth; and he never told her naughty stories.

Therefore she was very sorry when he was gone.

At the present juncture, however, she was in considerable anxiety about

Margaret. She did not know one note from another, but she had heard all

the greatest singers of the last thirty years, in all the greatest

opera-houses from Bayreuth to New York, and it horrified her to be

obliged to admit that Margaret's singing sounded dreadfully like the

best. The girl meant to sing in opera, and if she could really do it

well it would be quite impossible to hinder her, as she had no means of

support and could not be blamed for refusing to live on charity.

Everything was combining to make an artist of her, for the chances of

winning the suit brought on her behalf were growing as slender as the

seven lean kine.

It was characteristic of Margaret that she had kept to herself most of

what Madame Bonanni had told her, but Mrs. Rushmore knew the girl well,

and guessed from her face that there was much more behind. The

appointment at the theatre confirmed this surmise, and when Margaret

telegraphed the next day that she was going to stay in town until the

afternoon, with Madame De Rosa, there was no longer any room for doubt.




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