Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-06-14

to keep her from harm by guidance and
example. aided by the girls natural good
ness and the strictness Of her upbringing.
Moreover. she argued that. as Nora was
determined to earn her living in some
! way, the stage certainly did offer better
opportunities than the department store
or workroOm. As she had observed to
Mallory In talking 1t over with him:
| There amt girl as begun with me
at the Casino who amt ridin' around in
her own tiara. but the milliners is still
| trimmn' hats"
To count erbalance the factor of respon-
siblity there was something that was
very seductive to the girl who had bat
tied her way alone for SO long With
Nora she would be able to have real
| hOme-a home. however modest, that
would not be a comfOrtless hall bedroom
in boarding house. and would contain
their own furniture. everything their very
| own-a home where they could receive
| their parents and Dan when they came to
town. Her imagination already pictured
it's pretty cOziness. Already she felt the
sweet happiness of the companionship of
being she loved Of having with her al
| ways some one to care for and watch
| and tighten her exile from Dan and the
old folks at home. That very night,
| when the household retired. she spoke of
| it in a long conference with her star
! Nora had looked forward apprehensve-
| ly to the inevitable interview with Patsy.
She wondered what the latter would do
| in regard to the incident OF the kiss.
! Would she tell their parents? And If so,
what would happen? She had positive
| dread of scenes and of being lectured.
She was immensely relieved when Patsy
| Informed her that she would say nothing
about it and why she had reached this
| decision Nora passed the matter off
| lightly and blamed 1t all on Crawford. Il
didn't know that he was going to do it.
and couldn't prevent him.. she declared.
She treated it all as "A joke and laughed
| a ont Tor
| the wager that was won in advance nor
| the fact that he had handed her his
card.
| Patsy took advantage of the oppOr-
tunity to give her some sound advice. and
| to enlighten her little as to the dangers
which thereafter would beset her. but she
| was too excitedly happy at the prospect
of their future to dwell just then at too
great length or too seriously upon these
| things. and the girls sat up far into the
night discussing their plan.
Two days later found them In New
| York eager to start in and do. They had
who was we'll know. obtained an engage
ment to lead the chorus in a new pro-
duction at one of the Broadway theaters,
and. after putting Nora through her
] PAGES. which the novice found to be much
harder work than she had had any idea
| of. procured for her a place i'm the same
chorus. This was something Patsy had
| hoped. but hardly expected. to be able to
| way. Everything was turning out as she
had wished. Her anxiety on the question
of money having been relieved. as both
were drawing salaries in a piece that bid
very fair TO have an extended run. she
| was able 10 take up in a practical manner
| the matter Of getting together her long
coveted home. Nora was only mildly en-
.thusiastic about taking a fat. She had
associated her career on the stage with
life in a hotel or comfortable boarding
| house. where she would be waited on
and there would be no work to do. The
prospect of having to keep house was not
particularly attractive to her. She hated
housework. But the modest place where
| they boarded fell very short. indeed, of
! her expectations of what was In store
| for her when she left Maple Grove and
the meals made her yearn for a taste of
! her mothers cooking-for something fit to
eat. as she put it. Patsy's scheme GER
tainly offered some advantages. Besides.
she did not dare TO voice her objections
on the score of work. So she set about
the task of fat hunting with Patsy with
some show of the eagerness that ami
mated her sister
The latter had never engaged in such a
quest before. and the prices asked in
| houses where they would have liked to
live appalled, both of them. 1t was a long
and disheartanins process Of disillusion