"
Alice's curiosity was aroused and she expressed her desire to go.
After the first act, Alice turned an inquisitive face to her husband.
"What was your other reason for coming here to-night?"
"Don't you think Catessa is a fine tenor?"
"He has the most beautiful voice I ever heard," Alice replied.
"I know him. He is an old friend of mine. I'm going behind the scenes
to congratulate him personally."
"Did you meet him in Italy?"
"No--in Fernborough, Massachusetts."
"Why, Quincy, what _do_ you mean? There were no Italians in
Fernborough."
"He is not an Italian. He's a Yankee. Look at his name."
"That's Italian surely."
"It's only his Yankee name transposed. Aren't you good on anagrams?"
"Certainly, I'm not. Please tell me."
"Do you remember a young man in Fernborough with consumption whom I
sent to a sanatorium in New York?"
"Yes, Mr. Scates."
"You've hit it. Mr. Arthur Scates, or A. Scates for short. Now look
at that Italian name again."
"I am doing so, and it looks just as foreign as ever."
"Agreed, but Catessa contains just the same letters as A. Scates,
only they are arranged differently."
After the second act, Quincy visited Mr. Scates in his dressing room.
The tenor insisted on Quincy and his party taking supper with him at
his hotel after the opera. He offered to repay the cost of his
treatment with interest.
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