The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1911-01-27

very happy If l could think at the end
of nv life that my best work could
even be compared with your worst
''You mean La Marriage de Nine.
Daubigny q" suggested Vavin, smiling,
rafarring 70 n play that had been pro-
duced several years back ana that hau
had a VIGOROUSLY unsuccessful recep-
ton.
mo. sir" said Holcomb, looking him
squarely in the eye; 81 mean lie Dame
Rouge
THAT, my boy" said Yavin, laying
his hand on his shoulder-"that was
a good play, but it was written by
sour heart"
Dora insisted that Holcomb should
see the rest of the play ont with them,
an invitation that he accepted CRATE
fully, inasmuch as the manager of the
theater. who had passed him in. had
not even done him the courtesy to
give him seat and had only admitted
him because he was anxious to give
the house the appearance OF being
full. In the course of the Following
act the young author seized the OPP
portunity to whisper to Dora that he
wanted TO see her the next day and
tell her of the gladstone news that he
had received on his arrival.
Since the time when Willard Hol-
comb had first met Dora Fullerton on
the stage he had taken on new and
greater purpose. He was admittedly
young man of great ability; but, as
one of his friends had described him.
he was particularly disqualified for
success by Il lack of direction lie
had educated himself. had studied law
In office and university and also some
medicine had written an amusing book
on chess-a feat in itself-had served
in the army and been a war CORE
spondent had written musical criti-
cism and now, at the age of thirty
three. was an actor with the very
strong conviction that, following the
example of Aeschylus, Shakespeare
and Moliere, he could learn to Write
great play only by an acceptable
familiarity not alone with the pen, but
with the grease paint stick.
He had fallen early in his brief stage
career under the influence of Ludlow
| Holly Ludlow, 1.-THE best leading man
In America" and undoubtedly the most
brilliant conversationalist among stage
folk. What Holly said today was the
talk of the town" tomorrow. Thus as
'the town" do actors describe the few
clubs, cafes or other rendezvous that
they hold particularly their own. Soon
er or later these epigrams or witticisms
would drift into print, and after awhile
any bright saying that seemed to lose
caste because of lack of parentage was
credited to the man of easy tongue and
easier sense of responsibility.
Unknown to Dora, Ludlow and Hol-
comb had had their first clash over
her The former, who was really in
formed in certain lines of psychology,
had playfully remarked that despite
Miss Fullerton's simplicity, sincerity
and righteousness - he also added
"greenness"-she simply moved by the
geological law that sent the best rep
resentative of her species, the feline,
out into the social night. Holcomb,
younger man, usually laughed at Hol-
! ly's characterizations. Now he turned
sharply.
'"The trouble with you, Ludlow" he
said, dropping the affectionate abbre-
Walton of Holly, sis that you don't
realize that nature in that regard is
memorable, and the matter gets to the
fundamental question of quality"
GAS serious as that, is it?" was Hol-
ly's would be testing remark
GAS serious as that" replied Hol-
comb, and from that time on they jest
ed no more on that or any other sub
ject.
The day after their meeting at the
theater Miss Fullerton and Mr.. Hol-
comb met at lunch as per agreement.
There was an amplitude of formality
throughout the function that would
have satisfied anything less than the
overdeveloped and specialized Greek
sense of fate that Obsessed Aunt Cor
nelia
MY play has been accepted said
Holcomb, with an intellectual genu-
fexion, when he had ordered lunch
that was admirable in its omissions.
He had not reached the high point of
dramaturgy that is gastronomically
marked by the intrusions of soup and
game and calculated to rouse the ire
of gormandic genealogy stretching
! from Athanaeus to Vatel
"Yes?" Dora was genuinely, truly
interested, and, cursed as she was with
the name that Dickens sacrificed IN
the fire of fiction. she was moved only
by woman's best instinct to see
man she liked. if not loved, reach his
goal.
81 want you to play the leading
part" he added.
The lunch, Holcomb, everything
swan about Dora for a moment. The
statement and the emotion that IL
aroused had the same quality that the
lyrical conception has in it the poet
1t hit her, as DR.. Holmes would nave
said like a bullet in the back OF the
head"
Il 30