Evening star., 1911-08-14
CHAPTER xxxIII-Continued.


York dock Lesley would feel as he be-
gan to. but even more. that everything
which had happened served him right"
He could almost hear her pronouncing
sentence. smiling. Yet in earnest. How
she must have laughed at his fallen pride,
and the wildly farcical things such merry
humorists as Tony Kidd had doubtless
put into the papers. He had become
mere figure of fun for America, and,
therefore. for Lesley Dearmer, who had
never been a respecter of persons: and
the fear that the Human Flowers COM
pany might play at Louisville had been
hot In his mind until Ed Binney reas-
sured him. Louisville was not for the
likes of them,'' and they would never get
nearer such an important town than they
were now. Soon they would be out OF
Kentucky and in Missouri: indeed. the
date" following Ashville was In the lat
ter state. and Loveland had been advised
that his forthcoming address would be
Bonnerstown. Only the day before his
meeting with Miss Moon on the stairs he
had written TO Bill Willing, asking him
to send on any mail to Bonnerstown, Mo. :
and now the lady's mysterious summons
gave him an uneasy moment
He had supposed that his acting was
satisfactory. and had worked hard over
the learning and rehearsing OF his parts
seldom getting TO sleep before In the
morning. then dropping Off with a MS. in
his hand as well as in his head. But
what if Miss Moon meant to break the
news that j. j. thought he could not
act well enough and that he must expect
his discharge?
Loveand had little appetite for dinner
though the hotel at Ashville was better
than at Modunk, and the cooking was
good southern cooking. Immediately after
the meal he went upstairs and knocked
at the door of Mr.. and Mrs. Jacobus
room with no feeling of strangeness In
doing so, because he had learned, since
joining Miss de Lises company, that for
pros bed room was another word for
parlor.
The stage manager and his wife were
both there. Jacobus smoking, in sulky si-
lence. which he broke only with a grunt
by way of greeting for the Juvenile
lead" But Miss Moon made up in cordi-
ality for her husbands coldness.
Mr.. Jacobus is cross with me" she an
nounced. coauettishly. about you
About me?'' Loveland repeated, puz-
zled and vaguely uncomfortable.
Yes. There's an idea Of mine l want
to talk to you about. and he says you'll
blab IT to the others. But say you won't
II you promise you won't. That's So
isn't IT,
'Of course" answered Loveland.
And you do promise, don't you-and
that you won't say q word to living
soul. II tell you thing in strict conf
dence?'
II promise" Loveland returned. i'm
prudently, impressed with the idea that
he was to hear some comment on his own
acting.
There! That's all right. then 1 trust
you. Yes. I just will, ]. j.. so there. I
guess | have right to my say in this
show, haven't r.
]. j. answered by q shrug Of the shoul-
ders, but it was shrug OF resentful ac-
edged his wife's supremacy--the eternal
SUPREMACY of the golden calf
Sit down and make yourself at home -
went on Miss Moon, smiling on the hand
some young man. who was not much
older than her sons Full Moon was
land thought, as she cordially indicated
chair by the stove, that her figure
merited the sobriquet.
II know you're a great friend of
Lillie's,'' the lady silly began again. when
she and Loveland We're seated near the
fire and j. j. had drowned himself in a
theatrical paper. But all the same. you
must admit that her acting gets worse
every day. She's SO awful careless. And
she's failed to go down with audiences
here. We've done rotten business"
The house has seemed good every
night" said Loveland.
"Ah. it's seemed all right: but it's been
half paper. It's mighty discouragin' for
the money I've put into the show and
the work he's put in. The fact is. it's so
discouragin we're thinkin' Of maxim a
change: breakin up the company. in a
way. and then startin' again, with only
the ones we really want in a. new crowd
Would you like to join?"
Loveland looked her straight in the
face, with almost brutally frank disap-
proval on his The extra touches she
had given to her hair, and eyelashes and
complexion for his benefit. We're all in
vain. She might have been a block of
painted wood, for any admiration in his
eyes.
You mean you're going to send Miss
de Lisle away?" he asked.
We're going to send ourselves away
from her." Miss Moon corrected him.
Leaving her in the lurch.' exclaimed
Loveland. with that uncompromising
truthfulness OF his which was a virtue or
a vice, according as one had reason to
The big woman flushed arkly through
her powder. There's no lurch' about
it, she defended herself with a new
sharpness in her tone II don't intend to
carting Lille de Lisle around the country
as a star. that's all. 1 suppose have
right to do as 1 choose with my own?
You oughtn't to complain. I'm offering
you a chance that lots OF real actors
would grab. You can go with the new
company, and have better parts and bet
ter pay than what you're getting now.
But you'll have to choose, right away.
between me-between us and Lille de
Lisle. Well, what do you say?''
Il say that I choose Miss de Lisle,"
said Loveland.
Miss Moon burst out laughing, hys-
terically.
There, 1 told you what you'd get,''
calculated her husband. But she shook
her shoulders angrily. seeming to transfer
to him all the resentment Loveland had
reused.
Let things alone, can't your" she
snapped. "Gordon's only guying, amt
you Gordon? Or. anyhow. you don't un-
derstand. When I said choose between
u.s. there's nothing TO choose, for Lille
de Lisle hasn't got a thing to offer you
and we have lot. We can bust her up;
and when she's bust, she is bust. why.
she hasn't dime TO bless herself with.
shouldn't think. She amt the savin'
kind, and she won't even have any ad-
vertisin' paper to go along with. IL she
wanted to go along on her own. Her
name amt printed on any of the posters
took care of that. starting out. The
slips with Lille de Lisle' are all separate
Joined on to the posters with paste-and
as for her litho, she's welcome to that
She looks a fright. bad enough to scare
crows. The pictorial papers ours. every
sheet Of 1t. and we can start another
do is to wire a Chicago agent for a new
star, if / don't choose to do the starring
myself. and as many folks as we want.
Now, you see how things stand. don't
you?"
Il think | do" said Loveland.
We'll, what do you decide?"
.'The same that l decided before"
"Oh you do, do you? Amt you silly!
You won't take good thing when It's Of
fered your
Il won't take the thing you've offered
me-"
ch. ho,,rcad I'm from, bor obair bar