And at last he was ready; and went out, drunk with fatigue and the reaction from pain.
He did not afterward remember how he came to the theatre.
Presently he found himself in a lower tier box, talking to a Mrs.
Paige who, curiously, miraculously, resembled the girlish portraits of his mother--or he imagined so--until he noticed that her hair was yellow and her eyes blue.

And he laughed crazily to himself, inwardly convulsed; and then his own voice sounded again, low, humorous, caressingly modulated; and he listened to it, amused that he was able to speak at all.
"And so you are the wonderful Ailsa Paige," he heard himself repeating.

"Camilla wrote me that I must beware of my peace of mind the moment I first set eyes on you----" "Camilla Lent is supremely silly, Mr.Berkley----" "Camilla is a sibyl.

This night my peace of mind departed for ever." "May I offer you a little of mine ?" "I may ask more than that of you ?" "You mean a dance ?" "More than one." "How many ?" "All of them.

How many will you give me ?" "One.