"You'd better stay and hear Noel's account of it." She looked at her watch. "He promised he'd come in afterwards. I'm glad he took her. It will be an outlet for her emotions. The papers just hint that Petrovitch is on the downward grade, Eric. Not the master that he was. He's not very young, you know."
"I suppose not. He wasn't a young man when she first knew him. But if the world were to reject and despise him, Connie would cling to him all the more. So there's no hope in that direction."
"Oh, yes," agreed Madame Claire. "She'd pride herself on it."
They talked for nearly half an hour, and Eric was about to go when Dawson opened the door to announce "Master Noel."
"Hello!" exclaimed Noel. "Two birds with one stone. That's splendid. Greetings, Claire. I'm bursting with talk. How are you, Eric?"
"We're bursting to hear you talk," Madame Claire told him. "Sit down and tell us all about it."
"Whew!" Noel stretched himself out in a chair and ran his fingers through his hair. "I feel a bit of a rag. Concerts always make me
