The Imp's Matinée
garian band! They settled themselves below the stage and as the Tall Young Man, who was busily showing people to their seats, called out in a high cracked voice, "Ladies please remove their hats in the parquet!" they struck up the overture to William Tell, and the Imp felt that heaven could be only a little better than the theatre.
The people all seemed so jolly, and everybody laughed so loudly, and the Tall Young Man was so funny, as he fanned the ladies in the boxes with newspapers, and leaned over their chairs, and made opera-glasses of his hands and stared down at the Imp!
"Who is that beautiful child in brown corduroy?" he asked loudly. "Who can that angel be? He is too valuable to be left alone!" And they all laughed—but the Imp didn't care. He was too happy. He made glasses of his hands, too, and so did the rest, and stared at the box where the Tall Young Man stood.
And then a bell struck, once, twice, and the music stopped and the curtain rose. The Imp held his breath. A beautiful lady sat all alone on a bench in a garden.
"Alas!" she said in a loud voice, "what an
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