I found her standing before the glass, having just completed her preparations for appearing on the stage. Dressed in her picturesque costume, she was so charming that I expressed my admiration heartily, as became her old friend. "Do you really like me?" she said, with the innocent familiarity which Irecollected so well. "See how I look in the glass--that is the great test." It was not easy to apply the test. Instead of looking at her image in the glass, it was far more agreeable to look at herself. We were interrupted--too soon interrupted--by the call-boy. He knocked at the door, and announced that the overture had begun.
"I have a thousand things to ask you," I told her. "What has made this wonderful change in your life? How is it that I don't see your father--"Her face instantly saddened; her hand trembled as she laid it on my arm to silence me.