maid was not entirely faithful to her mistress — spied on her, in fact; and putting the two things together, it occurred to me that this strange lady might actually be Carlotta.

Many women of the stage acquire a habitual staginess and theatricality, and it was quite conceivable that Carlotta had relations with Yvette, and that, ridden by the old jealousy which had been aroused through the announcement of Rosa’s return to the Op�ra Comique, she was setting herself in an indefinite, clumsy, stealthy, and melodramatic manner to prevent Rosa’s appearance in “Carmen.”

No doubt she had been informed of Rosa’s conference with me in the church of St. Gilles, and, impelled by some vague, obscure motive, had travelled to London to discover me, and having