Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-08-12
DAILY SHORT STORY
The Understudy.
IOriginal.l


whom he was giving lesson.
''Try once more: repeat the words as
1 speak them, giving the intonation as
give it-thus:
20 Romeo. Romeo. wherefore art thou
Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name.
Or. If thou wilt not. be but sworn my
love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet."
The girl, who had already repeated
the words a dozen times in a vain eff
fort to please her preceptor and who
had become completely ratified" tried
again and made a worse failure than
before.
THAT will do, Miss Cheever. 1t is
useless for you to proceed. To encour-
age you to go on would be to take your
money knowing that 1 can never edu-
cate you for the stage. You were not
born to be an actress"
At this the girl burst into tears and
the professor turned to his desk and
began to look over some papers. The
occurrence was a common one 10 him,
and although not devoid of feeling, he
could not afford to waste his time cod
ding failures" Besides, there was
nothing to be said. When he turned
again Miss Cheever had vanished.
Half a dozen years passed and the
professor had forgotten his pupil as he
forgot all those whose histrionic abili-
ties were pronounced by him unworthy
of cultivation. He had ceased to give
lessons and earned fine salary as
dramatic critic. One night he went to
see an actress who had made some rep
utation. ready to write her praises or
condemn her, as she suited his fancy.
The actress unfortunately was Ill and
her place was taken by her understudy.
The play was Romeo and Juliet" and
the understudy was the critics forgot
ten pupil, Miss Cheever.
Mcleod, when he saw her, had not
the slightest remembrance of having
ever seen her before. Not so Miss
Cheever. She noticed him sitting in
one of the foremost rows directly be-
meath her and recognized at once the
man who had sounded her stage death
knell before she had ever trodden the
boards. Perhaps it was because for
five long years since she made her de-
but in a part usually given to super
she had met with little success, per
haps it was that Il woman does not
take kindly to criticism. Be the cause
what ii may, she had never for
given Dennis Mcleod. However, she
had made the most of the training he
had given her and had come to initiate
his methods in n parrotlike fashion
that had given her q meager living.
Miss Cheever played to an audience
disappointed at having missed n star
and Obliged to put up with an under
study. She went through her part la
bOriously, and as she came to the diff
ferent points in the play in which Nc
Leod had given her especial drilling
did her best to honor his instruction.
In this she had decidedly improved,
and the critic became Interested
There's woman" he said, who will
one day make an actress" He ar
ranged in his mind the main points of
the criticism he would hand in to the
dramatic editor of his paper, and felt
a bit of comfort in being able to thus
help a struggling actress, remembering
those he had been obliged to discour-
age. When the curtain was rung down
on the first act the audience felt re-
lieved, the women chatting about social
tribes. the men going out for a Whit
of tobacco smoke.
Miss Cheever retired to her dressing
room to weep. She knew that on this
first occasion of her playing a promi-
nent part she had made a dismal fall
ure, and that in the presence of the
man who had warned her to choose an
other occupation. But, womanlike, she
iIlogicaIly blamed Mcleod for her fail
ure rather than her want OF histrionic
ability. From tears she passed to ir-
ritatiOn and from irritation to anger.
The curtain went up for the second
act, and Miss Cheever took her place
on the balcony. Romeo spoke those
poetic lines beginning:
He Jests at scars that never felt a
wound
But SOFT What light through yonder
window breaks?
It is the east. and Juliet is the sun!
The man was a splendid actor and
gave them beautifully. Juliet was be-
tween two influences. On the one
hand she felt the inspiration Of the
scene, on the other she was in a rage
/
with Mcleod, whom she could plainly
see from her perch. Then came her
own lines:
o Romeo. Romeo. wherefore art thou
| Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name.
| Or If thou wilt not, be but sworn my
| love,
And I'll no longer be Capulet.
Whether it was inspiration or def
ance she never knew, but something
prompted her to speak the lines In the
fashion Mcleod had tried to train out
of her, and she gave them with all the
natural feeling the part. the scene, the
impelling recklessness impaired.
A hush came over the audience.
Romeo spoke the single line:
Snail 1 hear more or shall speak at
| this?
Miss Cheever hesitated a moment
before her reply, then went on as ma
| tura not arf had taught hnr and from