"What have you there, Mademoiselle?" he enquired pathetically. "Never
have I seen you like this before. You fear the grand people, is it not
so? You have no heart, no courage! But again! Again!"
In the midst of his exhortation the Manager descended suddenly upon the
scene. As a matter of fact he had been watching for the last ten
minutes from one of the entrances, and he had seen her failure to
accomplish her jumps successfully.
"This won't do for to-night," he said angrily. "We want your best
work, not your worst. Do you suppose I'm going to stand your laziness?"
Arithelli was sitting at ease upon Don Juan's back as he paced slowly
round the ring. She did not look up or answer, which enraged the
Manager still further. Her silence was one of the things about her
that always annoyed him most? She was the only woman he had never been
able to bully into a state of collapse.
He turned on the ring-master, who was grinning to himself.
"_Allez-vous en_! I'll see to this."
Senor Valdez looked uncomfortable. For an instant he felt almost
inclined to expostulate on Arithelli's behalf, but the Manager's rages
were well known to his employes, and the little man had no intention of
losing his present position.
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