A small platform had been erected at one end, and as Diana and Miss Lermontof entered, a French _diseuse_ was just ascending it preparatory to reciting in her native tongue.
The recitation--vivid, accompanied by the direct, expressive gesture for which Mademoiselle de Bonvouloir was so famous--was followed at appropriate intervals by one or two items of instrumental music, and then Diana found herself mounting the little platform, and a hush descended anew upon the throng of people, the last eager chatterers twittering into silence as Olga Lermontof struck the first note of the song's prelude.
Diana was conscious of a small sea of faces all turned towards her, most of them unfamiliar.

She could just see Adrienne smiling at her from the back of the room, and near the double doors Jerry was standing next a tall man whose back was towards the platform as he bent to move aside a chair that was in the way.

The next moment he had straightened himself and turned round, and with a sudden, almost agonising leap of the heart Diana saw that it was Max Errington.
He had come back! After that first wild throb her heart seemed, to stand still, the room grew dark around her, and, she swayed a little where she stood.
"Nervous!" murmured one man to another, beneath his breath.
Olga Lermontof had finished the prelude, and, finding that Diana had failed to come in, composedly recommenced it.

Diana was dimly conscious of the repetition, and then the mist gradually cleared away from before her eyes, and this time, when the accompanist played the bar of her entry, the habit of long practice prevailed and she took up the voice part with accurate precision.
The hush deepened in the room.

Perhaps the very emotion under which Diana was labouring added to the charm of her wonderful voice--gave it an indescribable appeal which held the critical audience, familiar with all the best that the musical world could offer, spell-bound.
When she ceased, and the last exquisite note had vibrated into silence, the enthusiasm of the applause that broke out would have done justice to a theatre pit audience rather than to a more or less blase society crowd.