Elinor had no such thoughts, and indeed no suspicion of
what was passing in the minds of others who surrounded
her. To her the future was a bright succession of artistic
struggles and triumphs, not to be gained without great
effort indeed, but effort which, she reasoned, her education
and her self-reliance would endow her with peculiar fiadlities



BEFORE THE STORM. 241

for grappling and conquering. She was so absorbed in
her task that she did not see, or, at all events, did not
understand, the ill-concealed pity of even those who were
most amiable among her co-laborers. Mrs. Furbelow, who
professed the most tender interest in her success, came up
after rehearsal, gorgeous in her brocade, her lace, and her
French hat, to oflfer advice and congratulations in advance
on the " hit " her dear young friend was to make. She
even proposed to direct and superintend Elinor's toilette
for the night, but the young lady had fixed ideas on that
subject as well as most others, and saved herself from the
most dangerous of the Furbelow pitfalls, by gratefully but
firmly declining the suggested service. So she went home
to her humble lodging — so difFerent, alas ! from the happy
home she had left — and passed the intervening hours be-
tween the present and the impending ordeal, in those alter-
nations of hope and anxiety which generals feel on the eve
of the battle which is to make or mar them.
CHAPTER XXXI.
