Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1903-08-14
HIS CLEVER RUSE.
BY LOUIS HONIG.

on the stage if only given a fair chance"
b Tom Lawson was wise enough not to ar
que the matter further this time. He had
watched Cora Barton struggle with other
illusions, and knew that time acted as a
safe and sure curative.
He would wait for the operation of the
same medicine to purge from the girls
mind the complacent belief in her own his
| trionic ability.
That Cora Barton did possess talent for
theatrical work was fact not to be de-
MED. She also possessed the temperament,
and what was much in her favor, a stage
presence that made managers look up ard
wonder "if something might not be made
Of that girl"
Her mother and her father died when she
was quite young girl, leaving her com
petence, and making the girl more or less
Independent in spirit. The guardianship
Of a maiden aunt did little OF nothing to
curb her artistic longings
At the age Of %, with a seminary educa-
ton, improved by few years of travel at
home and abroad, she determined to seek
a stage career.
Tom Lawson had known her for many
years, and so devoted was he in his affection
that he had followed her from one end
Of the continent to the other.
| EHllsIlnB UHe stTNlCtS VI lIltHu Do
was only too happy to show his little i'm
portance by securing her an introduction
to one of the big theatrical managers in
London, Cora Barton had been given long
hearing.
The manager was favorably impressed,
and in putting on the second play of the
season she was advanced several steps on
the ladder
The girls enthusiasm painted pictures
in her mind of the audiences rising from
their chairs and demanding her to bow
and bow as the curtain would be raised
and dropped at the end of each act in
plays written specially for herself by the
master playwrights of the day. 1t was at
this time that Tom Lawson renewed his
suit.
He had been so constant in his attentions
that the girl had ceased to consider them
as such.
Although he was strongly opposed to the
career she had set for herself, he advised
her from time to time and his counsel had
been followed with appreciate advance
ment in the stage work of the young &C.
tress.
There was no doubt that the girl would
make a complete success on the boards,
and this was source of new discomfort
for the man who loved her.
1t was always a pleasure for him to see
her from one of the orchestra stalls, but
upon leaving the theater he was more i'll
at ease than when at home reading or won
!; dering what the end of things would be.
Then came the third and decided sue
cess. The critics had ceased talking of the
girl as formerly member of society, and
were contented to Judge her work on its
merit.
Tom Lawson stopped his idling and hover
ing about the flame of Cora Barton's stage
, splendor. Tie went to his clubs oftener
and out with friends and entered generally
into the social pleasures of very merry
: winter.
, One night there was a theater party,
, , and Tom was one of it. The seats were
well in front, and very soon after her first
entrance. Cora Barton caught sight Of
her faithful old friend .with what seemed
t a very happy and very pretty girl.
That night the actress repeatedly changed
2 her position on the stage to get better
, view of the girl who was seated next to
a Tom Barton. When she was driving home
from the theater her mind was troubled.
She admitted to herself that she did not
like things as they were.
The play was an unqualified success. Sc
e curing for the star an abundance Of we'll
l merted praise from critics and public alike.
[ 1t was such a piece of dramatic art that
= the theater-lover might find even the sec
= ond and third performances more to his
liking than the first.
This may have been the reason why Tom
> Lawson and the fair young lady whom he
| escorted on the evening Of the theater party
saw several performances of the play dur
ing the first part of its run. They always
occupied seats well in front or in the left
4 proscenium box
a The social columns of the newspapers
said great deal Of Tom Lawson that win,
:. ter, and one society reporter went so far
4 as to hint at his engagement with a girl
n "farer than all the fari' Cora Barton
II read it. and her sweet disposition suddenly
f changed.
n At the performance that night she slut
s tered over her lines, and the manager said
some unpleasant things to her before she
. retired to the dressing-room after the last
>. curtain.
= Other papers made the same insinuations
e about Lawson, and instead of reading the
s theatrical news with her morning coffee
II Cora Barton found herself running through
the society columns with the eagerness Of
t. a debutante.
! The girl changed inwardly and outwardly
n IHls Nd> apparent 10 Her companions OF
= the stage, and the manager grew greatly
u displeased with her work One day h,
IT sent for her and told her that unless more
snap was put into her part he would b.
n required to fill it with someone else.
n As a climax to her nervous discomfort
IS and uneasiness of mind, Tom Lawson, with
d the same beautiful girl, appeared in theil
customary places n the left prosceniun
box on the night following,
To aggravate Cora Barton's disquietud,
they arrived in the midst of one of hsl
re finest declamatory efforts.
a The girl finished bravely enough, but sh,
n knew in her own heart that when the on,
l. scene in which she was supposed to show
a her talent would come, that this night sh,
: would make signal failure.
:, 1t was not exactly a signal failure. Tn,
" To- Id,