They were lying in a state of confusion at his side, and Ethel glanced at them curiously.
"Did any of the papers speak of the singing before the Holland House ?" she asked.
"Yes.

I think reporters must be ubiquitous.

All my papers had some sort of a notice of the affair." "What do they say ?" "One gave the bare circumstances of the case; another indulged in what was supposed to be humorous description; a third thought it might have been the result of a bet or dare; a fourth was of the opinion that conspiracy between the old beggar and the young man was not unlikely, and credited the exhibition as a cleverly original way of obtaining money.

But all agreed in believing the singer to be a member of some opera company now in the city." Ethel was indignant.

"It was neither 'bet' nor 'dare' nor 'conspiracy,'" she said.