Mrs. Bob: A Novel — page 252: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

244 SO HAS THAT SCHEMER MONSIEUR MERLE. posers of opera have woven into the woof of their fabric to give it the natural tone which the taste of the day demands. Craig knows what he 1s Aes He secures seats, and good ones, too—indeed, it looks as though he must be in league with the ticket seller, or else bought the seats hours before, for there is apparently hardly another vacant one in the house when they enter, and scores of persons who look perfectly able to purchase seats, if any are to be had, are standing up. No sooner is Gypsy seated than she looks around, woian-like. The scene upon the stage does not draw her attention, and under the peculiar circumstances of the case, this is not much to be wondered at. All are strangers around her; she looks from face to face; hundreds thus pass in review, but not one that she knows. Ah! a mistake. : ‘There is Uncle Cornelius—yes, and at his side that miserable little French lawyer who has done his best to win the game from me,’’ she whispers in Bob’s ear. | Nearly every one’s gaze is focused upon the stage at just this moment, for a queen of song had made her debut for the evening, and these lovers of melody, as it comes from a woiman’s throat, the sweetest melody in all the wide world, are spellbound by her magic voice, so that few even notice the late little company that, with rather less than the usual flutter, settle into their seats. ‘‘T noticed them,’’ says Bob, ‘‘but fail to see anything of the others.’’ =) (OY Gomichooksreo in r ==)