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Rh He laughed and went on. Bambi returned to the box, where she sat far back in the corner. The house was filling fast now. More than a little interest was evinced in the strange box party of big Jarvis, the Professor, and Ardelia. Richard Strong nodded and smiled from a nearby seat.

“We should have come in late, just as the curtain rose,” whispered Bambi. “We must not be so green again.”

“Why so, daughter?”

“Then we wouldn’t be stared at.”

“Are we stared at? By whom?”

The overture interrupted her reply. The seats were full now as high as the eye could reach the balconies. Bambi scanned the faces eagerly. Would they like the play? If they only knew what it meant to Jarvis and to her to have them like it!

The curtain rose. For two full moments she could not breathe. The act started off briskly, and little by little her tension relaxed. She laid her hand on Jarvis’s knee and it was stiff with nervous concentration. The first genuine laugh came to both of them like manna from heaven.

“It’s all right,” Bambi whispered to Jarvis. He nodded, his eyes glued to the stage.