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New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXV, Issue II, 14 July 1900, Page 55

less of an ignoramus when I started, but I :mii fully enlightened now.” "Already!” she smilingly exclaimed.

She was not, he observed, at the pains to seek for any hidden meaning in his words, nor. it appeared, did she care to continue the conversation. Otto was at her elbow. eager to draw her away into the adjacent woodlands, whither the horde of native and alien pilgrims to that Bavarian shrine were strolling in groups and couples. Mrs Hamilton and Jack had coffee together in front of one of the neighbouring restaurants, while the sun sank in the west ami the shades of evening began to full. Mrs Hamilton was tired, conscious also, perhaps, of the futility of pursuit. She did nor oven suggest the functions of :i sheepdog to her companion, but contented herself with making enquiries about the von Kahlenburg family a distinguished and moderately wealthy family, his knowledge of them enabled him to inform her.

Dnphne reappeared with her cavalier before the time came to return to the theatre. They had been discussing music, the girl said, and she certainly did not look as if she had been engaged upon any less impersonal topic. Otto, on the other hand, was slightly flushed, visibly nervous and anxious. He had been endeavouring, it might be conjectured, to introduce personal topics ami had been met in a discouraging spirit.

But the opportunity for which he was in such a hurry was bound to come later in the evening. Clough foresaw that it would and was half inclined to comfort him with an ironical assurance to that effect. Tt ••a me even sooner than might have been anticipated, :i't the termination of the second act- that disillusioning second act, ushered in by the eldritch squall of the wizard-summoned Kundry and passing on to the very Teutonic Harden of Delight, with its buxom Blumeninadehen, which the most humble ami least critical of spectators must find it hard to take seriously. “I am sure I should like all this so much better if there were no stage and no human voices,” sighed Clough as he made his way out. "I should like it better if there were no audience,” returned Mrs Hamilton, jostled by a famished crowd in headlong flight to secure dinner tables. "But we don't want food,” Daphne declared. “Who could be hungry’ at such a moment and on such an exquisite night ? We will have supper at the hotel when it is all over.”

“Speak for yourself, my dear child.” her mother plaintively rejoined. "It may be vulgar and coarse of me, but it is a fact nevertheless that I am fainting for want of food.” "Dear mother. Then you shall be fed, of course. Captain Clough will look after you, I know. As for me, 1 must have moonlight and the smell of the pines. I couldn’t just now face gas and beer and the clatter of plates and tongues.”

“I wonder,” said Jack Clough, after he had seized upon a small table, and had ministered to Mrs Hamilton's cravings, "whether that healthy young man has renounced his beef and l>eer without a pang.” "Oh. I should think so," she resignedly, if a trifle snappishly, answered. "But you ought to know. You yourself are a pretty good hand at renunciation, it seems to me.” lie shrugged his shoulders, lie was a. pretty good hand at accepting the unavoidable, perhaps. His old friend,

as he was well aware, was not that; only she was sure to yield —always had yielded and always would yield—to her daughter. In the present instance she would not. so far as he could see, have reason to repent of her pliancy; for Otto von Kahlenburg. when all was said, had most of the qualities which are to be desired in a

son-in-law. He lighted a cigarette when the scrambling meal had been disposed of and awaited events with outward composure. Mrs Hamilton, for her part, was neither compostd nor fond of being kept waiting. Iler daughter's protracted absence began to agitate her long before there was any need for disquietude, anti by the time that other diners were once more tiooping towards the theatre she had worked herself up into a state of serious alarm. “Something must have happened,” she exclaimed. "Do go and look for them. Jack. It is so unlike Daphne to be late on an occasion like this.” Jack obediently started in search of the truants, of whom, however, he could see nothing in the neighbourhood of the theatre. He was not himself alarmed, although he thought it more than probable that something had happened—something which had been obviously about to happen, and which would quite account for Daphne’s omission to consult with Iter watch. “Wha.t. are we to do?” cried Mrs Hamilton, distressfully, when he returned to report his failure. “Well, if you ask me.” he replied. “I should say that our best eonrs? would be to go back to our seats, like other people. Then at anyrate, Daphne will be spared the trouble of looking for us. She is not lost you may depend upon it. We may even find that she has gone before.” “But if she hasn’t?” “In that case let us hope that she will soon see the propriety of following after.” Mrs Hamilton made a despairing gesture. “Oh, the less said about propriety the better. And you don’t seem to think that it matters a bit. Why don't you think that it matters?” “Because it doesn't,” answered Jack. “Come in and sit down or we shall disturb this fastidious assemblage, which would matter quite scandalously, 1 suppose.” (To be continued.)