"Only this morning Clarisse, who's in the piece, swore that they'd begin at nine o'clock punctually." For a moment they remained silent and, looking upward, scanned the shadowy boxes.

But the green paper with which these were hung rendered them more shadowy still.

Down below, under the dress circle, the lower boxes were buried in utter night.

In those on the second tier there was only one stout lady, who was stranded, as it were, on the velvet-covered balustrade in front of her.

On the right hand and on the left, between lofty pilasters, the stage boxes, bedraped with long-fringed scalloped hangings, remained untenanted.