The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1893-09-22
THE UNDERSTUDY.

NV oAO oVoSO LII tu0 dUrupU
manner which used to ruffie the
manager so afterwards, she had
come walking into the Office leading
a smaller and much more untidy
little girl than herself by one grimy
hand.
Here's my understudy, Mr.
'Phlllips," announced the little
actress, sand her names Katherine. :"
And though the manager had
stormed good deal and declared he
would not stand it, Dorothy's word
had stood, and Katherine became her
verltable shadow. Where the small
actress had found her, no one ever
discovered; but judging from the
ragged frock which scarcely covered
her plump body, and the dust.tilled
curls, 1T must have been in some
alley, far removed from the fashion
able quarter of the city. But be-
tween Dorothy herself and her foster
mother and dresser, they soon turned
the smaller child into a clean, sweet,
blg-eyed girl. Inside of week she
knew everyone in the company, in
Guiding the pets of the women; inside
OF month she could go through her
lines in ''Fauntleroy" with the best
OF them, and with an astonishing grace
and ease. Undoubtedly the little
ragamuffin either possessed the tai
ent herself or else had inherited it
from her relatives; and, having shown
that talent, she dropped into the
company as naturally as if she had
been acting since she wore long
dresses.
When Barry Markham. that ele-
CANT, blase young man who conde.
scended to grace the stage with his
distinguished presence-these were
the comedians sarcastic words con-
corning him-joined the Fauntlerov
company, every woman in that ag-
gregation said in her inner heart she
would bring him to her feet; for
added to most enchanting manner
and bearing, there was an air of de-
llcious mystery about him which was
really quite irresistible. No one
knew anything definite of him,
though the old woman whispered
once or twice to the leading lady
That she knew he must be a real
swell, running away from something;
and the advance man, who dropped
pack once week to have a game of
poker with the first heavy, was half
way sure he had seen him through
the window at an ''upper-ten" recep-
ton. But this was mere guessing;
the facts were only these: He never
smiled; he never gossiped with the
others; he dressed we'll, but taste
fully-something the others did not;
he played the earl as if his life de-
pended upon his success; and he took
life very, very. seriously. The one
thing which made him seem real and
tangible to the other men was that
he drank a good Notwithstanding
ing, too-though he never got too
much; but although he asked them to
join him, whenever they happened
in the same place, it was with the
air of a baron paying for the wine Tor
his tenants. All in all, he was a
charmingly handsome and thor
Wi 10y NOAAS IL VI III lily oU0IN.
Until he saw Katherine for the first
time. Then he became a veritable
puzzle. He met her one afternoon
as he was stumbling along the abom-
inably dark and noisome alley lead
ing to the stage-door, and, for mo-
ment, the tall, serious actor stood
staring down at the little girl as if
he had seen a ghost. 70 be sure, she
was anything but ghostly, being quite
as plump and rosy as when Dorothy
had brought her into the company:
and the yellow hair which needed no
addition when she event on" tum-
bled about her face in very attrac-
tive and material manner; but the
actor continued to stare, until it
occurred to him that he was blocking
the way and possibly the little lady,
who was waiting so patiently with
the sweetly childish smile upon her
sunny face which made every one
her friend, might want to go on.
With hoarse II beg your pardon, ~
he took off his hat gravely and STEP
ped aside. She looked up at him
quite as gravely and said: THANK
you, sir, as she passed. After which
he wandered down-street toward his
hotel, and went by three saloons
without stopping in one. Which un-
doubtedly proved the disturbed con-
dition of Mr.. Barry Markham's mind.
From that day forth he was diff
ferent man. He drank less, he talked
more; he took to haunting back al
legs and streets-after he had learned
Katherine's very limited history
and he conversed with all the inhab-
itants of these unsavory portions of
TIE city who had reached the middle
mile-post of life. Every day saw him
"doing the slums," as the others
said; but, from his drawn, sad face
when he returned from his trips, it
was evidently not for the pleasure
he found there. If what he learned
there made him sad, however, he
made up for it when he came back.
for once near the little girl who had
interested him so, he forgot his
troubles, whatever they were, and
warmed his cold heart in the sun
shine of her happy smiles. And it
would have taken a cold heart, in
deed, to withstand the straightfor-
ward. confiding little ways with