The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-12-11

| chatting at the supper table, when they had finished their meal a ring of the door bell made Edith realize that her heart was on the left side of her body land beating abnormally. She hurried | to the door and let him in herself. Con- trary to her expectations. George made no mention of her stage debut except to say that he would come for her at [ 80 | o'clock in a cab to take her to the scene of her triumph, adding facetious- 1 ly that he would give her first ap- | pearance a severe review in The Her aid. She knew that he would jump into the river before he would do any,
 thing of the sort.
 | Her spirits were buoyant and she | told him playfully that she might all low him to come to, see her now and 1 then after she became the great Amer 1 ican prima donna.
 l T will probably be married and liv- 1 ing in some other city by that time"
 he told her. grinning gleefully as he noted the little bout of her lips. | Hannis took look at his watch and | said he would have to be getting back | to the office as he was supposed to be | at the Star Theatre seeing a lot of 1 cheap vaudeville acts and that he would have to go by there before the 1 performance ended.
 Edith slept late the next morning and only had time to eat a light break fast in order to be at the studio to meet Mon Gadeau and the manager. She found them waiting for her when
 she arrived almost out of breath and
 without further delay they drove to the theatre. AS they entered the
 stage door, they heard the ceaseless
 chatter of chorus girls sitting about
 the stage during an intermission of the rehearsal which had just begun. The
 stage director was busy arranging the
 last details with the stage manager
 and his assistants and did not notice the manager and the man and girl who accompanied him. A disconsolate- looking little woman who sat on a bench in the rear of the stage saw the trio as they entered and looked intently at the girl. Yes. she
 was as pretty as they had Vld her. but. could she sing like they said? A few minutes later as the company was hushed in expectancy and Edith with all confidence and spirit broke with delicious song into the first of her numbers, Janet Cabell's face dropped into her hands and long sigh was the only outward sign of her sorrow and chagrin. With perfect ease and grace. Edith went through the program with the
 company and her winning smile had them almost at her feet as she finished the rehearsal and walked over to where the manager and the professor
 were standing their faces beaming with pride and satisldction
 A tear was trailing down Janet's pale cheek and she hushed sob that | was trying to gain utterance at her l lips. Was it her fault she asked her l self, that this girl had come to take | her place? No, she had told him that l she was well enough to go on but the | dizziness in her head that very mo- ment made her realize the falsity of l the statement. She could not sing like l that no, she could not. and that only | meant one thing-in a day or two, she
 would get notice of dismissal. Then
 what would she do? Nearly all of the | little money that she had kept for her
 self after sending the other to her | mother had been spent for medicine | and doctors bill during her illness and
 1t was too late in the season to think | of securing a position now. She
 could manage to get along some way | herself but it was heart-tugging to think of the patient invalid woman who was slowly wearing away from the troubles of the world on account of the sacrifices she had made to give her daughter a musical and dramatic education.
 The voice of Francis interrupted Ja- nets train of thought and she dried her eyes quickly as she turned and
 went toward him and the girl. When