human
I see you have what Mr. Dooley calls 'the stage delusion'. It is a delightful quality to feel the reality of the drama and not remember there is any 'behind the scenes'. I fancy at this minute _Louise_, who got a little husky in that duet with _Julien_, when she promised to leave her mother and father and come to him, is off in her dressing room spraying her throat and gargling with peroxide to get her voice in trim for the third act. In that she has a long and very beautiful love scene in the little home at the apex of the Butte Montmartre where _Julien_ takes her.
gpt
Why did you come to Paris so soon? asked Mrs. Brown just then.
human
You meant to exhaust the sights of Antwerp before leaving, did you not?
gpt
Well, you see the sights exhausted me before I exhausted them, and then, like _Louise_, I felt the call of Paris. We got in only an hour ago, and after a very hasty dinner came to the Opera. _Louise_ seemed to me to be the very best introduction I could give my nephew to this wonderful city.
human
That is exactly what I have been saying to my cousin Molly! broke in Philippe.
gpt
It seems to me that Charpentier has given the true Paris with all of its charm and its dangers. Of course one should see this opera for the first time in the spring of the year, as that is when Paris is most alluring and in that season the scene is laid.
human
Molly, look in the second tier of boxes almost directly opposite us and see if that good looking young woman in the rather _outré_ gown is an acquaintance of yours, said the marchioness.
gpt
She has been looking at our box steadily ever since we arrived.
human
Her face is familiar but I can't place her. Judy, see if you know her, said Molly, as she adjusted Mr. Kinsella's opera glasses to her eyes. She and Judy got the focus at the same moment and exclaimed in unison:
gpt
Frances Andrews!
human
She is a girl we knew in our freshman year at college explained Molly to her Cousin Sally.
gpt
I remember she came to Paris to join her grandmother, but we have never seen or heard of her since she left college. She was a very peculiar person but clever and bright, and always awfully nice to me.
human
Humph! sniffed Judy.
gpt
I'd like to see the person who isn't nice to you, you old saint! The only thing I ever liked about Frances Andrews was that she got into bigger scrapes than I did and made my misdemeanors seem small in comparison. She was clever enough, I'll grant you that, but peculiar is a kind adjective to use in describing that girl. Why, Molly, she was the most unpopular girl at Wellington. Even her own class did not stand by her. She was crooked, as crooked as a snake.
human
Oh, Judy, there was a lot of good in Frances, but she got in bad with her class and could not redeem herself somehow. She was so young, too, and I haven't a doubt that she is vastly improved,