The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-04-08


wonld be we'll.
Having made up her mind on these
points, Miss Nellie Barring turned her
reflections to the future. Many months
would elapse ere her sweetheart set foot
in England, and the problem which
faced her was, how was she to maintain
herself in the meantime?
There was no fear OF want In the i'm
mediate future, for she had still in her
keeping over forty.fiye OF the fifty
pounds Sir Sydney had enclosed with
his note. Besides there was the bar
onet's assurance that in case she ever
required help she had only TO make
her necessity known in order to BIO
AIDED by him in the most generous and
unstintsd fashion.
But there was something humiliatlng
in the thought OF receiving support
from such source, She had accepted
tho baronet's notes only because the
money was necessary in order to enable
her to reach London; and because she
thought some day that she or Paul
would be able to Tepay what she re-
garded as temporary loan.
So In the face OF these matters II was
absolutely requisite that she should set
tie her course OF action for the future,
That chance meeting with the music
hall artistes had turned her thoughts to
the stage She knew that her voice was
one OF considerable purity and power
the sensation that she had created at
the ThorreIl Moor concert was some
evidence OF that-and she had shrewd-
ness and common sense enough to
know that il she could once get start
on the boards she was not likely to he
failure thereon.
Hut the great question was how was
she to beginp She was d novice IN all
affairs pertaining to the stage-did not
even know personally anyone to whom
she could apply for the information and
help she desired, to obtain.
" lille matters stood thus Salome no.
tiCed that couple ofgIrls besides herself
were lodging in the house. From her
window she had watched them sally
out each afternoon brightly dressed
and attractive, and during the remain
der OF each day she had heard the girls
in the house. they went out with un.
failing regularity every evening about
half past six. and returned with like
regularity about midnight-nore fre'
quently after twelve than before II.
Occasionally as Salome lay awake In
her bed she heard her fellow dodgers
come into the house, making the place
echo with their loud laughter and merry
songs, Sometimes the lasses were not
alone, for the equally noisy and merry
voices Of gentlemen mingled with the
thinner notes OF the girls.
One morning Salome spoke to Mrs.
Pedley about the girls. and her amaze
ment mny be imagined when she learn
ed that they we're couple oil music
hall aristes who were then appearing
nightly in the grand pantomime at
Drury Lane.
salomo received that information
with thrill OF pleasure. She thanked
Mrs. Pedley for the information, and
asked for further particulars respecting
"Miss Flo Thompson and Miss Violet
Stanley" as the pantomime girls dub
bed themselves.
The landlady was only too glad to
obliGe her questioner. She ran on at q
considerable length about the vices aud
virtues Of her dodgers, and from what
she heard Salome came to the Conclu'
sion that her fellow-lodgers were very
much like other young people who
were rather fond OF pleasure, loved life,
good living, dress, and the best that
they could obtain, but were in other
ways little different from, and certainly
no worse than O multitude OF other
lasses in less trying situations.
"Even II the girls did bring young
gentlemen home with 'em sometimes
they knew how to take care Of them
selves, they did, and she was not the
woman to stop lasses from having their
! bit Of pleasure"
The morning after this conversation
Miss Nellie Barring was introduced to
Miss Flo Thompson and her companion,
Miss Violet Stanley, and tho trio had a
long chat together, and AFTERWARDS par
took Of tea in company. With the ex-
ception OF their free and easy manners
and language, the White Gypsy found
the girls pleasant enough. Both OF
them were decidedly good looking,
we're only a year or two older than her
self, and were in receipt OF salaries
which enabled them to live deCently
and dress fairly well.
Before she had been acquainted with
the artistes twenty-four hours all their
past history and future prospects we're
laid bare. Miss Thompson had been a
mill girl in Oldham four years before,
when she was seized with stage fever,
and resolved to take her chances on
the boards. At first she began by ap-
pearing as supernumary ut the local
theatre. with the extraordinary
screw" Of a shilling night.
After year or 40 Of that kind Of ap.
premiership she had obtained au en-
gagement with o touring company OF
iifth.rate actors aud actresses who
CHANGED to visit the town, and with
them she travelled for several months,
playing very minor parts and existing
the best she could on the guinea a
week which represented her earnings.
But while she knocked about the
country with the crowd Of mummers
who rGutod their way through the in
terminable dialogue and marvellous
situations with which THE Gypsys
Vengeance" abounded, Miss Flo
Thoinpson-her real name was Mary
Jane Smith--had her wits about her,
and was picking up all she could in the
way Of improvement as an artistic.
She was q decent singer, and had
taught herself to dance tolerably, and
when the company broke up at the end
OF the tour through the provincial
towns she Quilted the stage and started
on her own account rs 'serio.comic
singer and dancer" beginning her new
career in one Of the small concert rooms
at Preston.
Once started fairly in the music hal
business Flo Thompson had done