Soon afterwards the gay spark herself appeared, amid a hysteria of applause.  She played the part of the wife of a military officer, and displayed therein a marvellous, a terrifying vitality of tongue, leg, and arm.  The young men in white flannels surrounded her, and she could flirt with all of them; she was on intimate terms with the red-nosed comedian, and also with the trio of delightful wantons, and her ideals in life seemed to be identical with theirs.  When, through the arrival of certain dandies twirling canes, and the mysterious transformation of the Burmese street into a Parisian cafe, these ideals were on the point of realization, there was a great burst of brass in the orchestra, succeeded by a violent chorus, some kicking, and a general wassail, and the curtain fell on the first act.  It had to be raised four times before the gratefully appreciative clapping would cease.

The auditorium shone with light; it grew murmurous with ecstatic approval.  The virginal face of Laurencine shot its rapture to Lucas as she turned to shake hands with George.

“Jolly well done, isn’t it?” said Lucas.

“Yes,” said George.

Lucas, too content to notice the perfunctoriness of George’s affirmative, went on: 

“When you think that they’re performing it this very night in St. Petersburg, Berlin, Paris, Brussels, and, I fancy, Rome, but I’m not sure—­marvellous, isn’t it?”

“It is,” said George ambiguously.

Though continuing to like him, he now definitely despised Everard.  The fellow had no artistic perceptions; he was a child.  By some means he had got through his Final, and was soon to be a junior partner in Enwright & Lucas.  George, however, did not envy Everard the soft situation; he only pitied Enwright & Lucas.  Everard had often urged George to go to musical comedies more frequently, hinting that they were frightfully better than George could conceive. The Gay Spark gave Lucas away entirely; it gave away his method of existence.

“I don’t believe you like it,” said sharp Laurencine.

“I adore it,” George protested.  “Don’t you?”

“Oh! I do, of course,” said Laurencine.  “I knew I should.”

Lucas, instinctively on the defence, said: 

“The second act’s much better than the first.”

George’s hopes, dashed but not broken, recovered somewhat.  After all there had been one or two gleams of real jokes, and a catchiness in certain airs; and the spark possessed temperament in profusion.  It was possible that the next act might be diverting.

“You do look tired,” said Laurencine.

“Oh no, darling!” Lois objected.  “I think he looks splendid.”

She was intensely happy in the theatre.  The box was very well placed—­since Irene had bought it—­with a view equally good of the stage and of the semicircle of boxes.  Lois’ glance wandered blissfully round the boxes, all occupied by gay parties, and over the vivacious stalls.  She gazed, and she enjoyed being gazed at.  She bathed herself in the glitter and the gaudiness and the opulence and the humanity, as in tonic fluid.  She seemed to float sinuously and voluptuously immersed in it, as in tepid water lit with sunshine.