The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-05-13
A LOST
MANUSCRIPT
By JOHN Y. LARNED
Copyright by American Press Asso-
citation. 1871

One day l left the theater ana had
entered cab just about to start away
when Il girls face appeared at the
window.
BEG pardon for stopping YOU she
said. Are you Mr. Closer. the man
agerY
~ am"
Would you be so kind as to read
play for meI'
| had more plays than / could put
on the boards for two years, but the
girl had such a winning smile that |
consented took roll Of manuscript
from her; told her to call at my office
in week and l would give her an
answer.
In week she called.
Have you read my play?" she asked,
with that same winning smile / had
seen before.
NO; l have been very busy. I'm
sorry. Could you give me another
weekT'
Certainly. I'm in no great hurry"
"Well. come OH this day week"
/ went TO my rooms and ransacked
every corner for that manuscript. II
was nowhere to be found. l must
have left it in the cab. But | had
picked the cab up on the street and
couldn't possibly know It from other
cabs. should have admitted the loss
and taken the consequences. But !
was young and prided myself on my
ability TO get out Of such scrapes.
would first win the girls good will,
then confess and compromise the mat
ter as best ! could
When she called again / put her of
by offering her two excellent seats for
The evenings performance. She said
they would he of no use to her since
she had no escort She smiled at me
80 sweetly when she said this that !
told her ! would escort her myself
[ not only did so. but said several nice
things to her about the opening Of
her play few passages Of which l
prOfessed 10 have read. | regretted
doing so, however, because she asked
me lot Of questions about It which l
couldn't answer. | got all mixed up
over it and was obliged to tell her
that ! thought / had got hold of the
wrong manuscript When | left her
told her that three days should not
elapse before had read the play, and
would be sure that 1t was her play
and not some other authors play.
put the poor girl of for three
months. She was very nice 10 me
about it all this time, but the further
proceeded with my deception the
further | sank in the mire. The worst
part Of the matter was that when a
week passed without my seeing her !
found myself like a topper without his
glass Of grog.
One day the girl came into my office
and told me that she had given the
scenario OF her play dts skeleton) to a
rival manager. and ne had assured her
that If the dialogue was filed in effec-
lively he would put it on the boards at
once. When tried to put her OF
some more beautiful bright tear
stood in her eye.
When n man is fitting between in
difference and love for a woman he
may be easily unbalanced on the side
Of love by one OF those little globules,
at any rate, lost my balance. ] con
fessed TO have lost her manuscript
but told her not to mind a little thing
like that since / loved her and had
quite enough for both Of us. If she
would marry me it would be all right
/ kissed away the tear, and her smile
was like the sun peeping from the
other side of an April cloud.
From that moment ] heard no more
Of the missing manuscript After a
few months engagement we were mar
ried and after a brief wedding triT
! settled down to the humdrum Of life
One evening when ! went home my
wife told me that she had received
FIRST night" tickets to new play
that was to be put on the boards and
asked me to 90 with her to see the
| performance. | tried to beg Off, saying
that l was needed at my own theater
but she insisted, and yielded.
Our seats were a proscenium box or
q level with the stage My wife pulled
curtain before her so that she coulC
not be seen except from the stage
The play opened SO we'll that ex
claimed, "By Jove. why didn't / &c
hold of this?" As the performance pro
ceeded it was evident that hit was
being made. l ground my teeth IL
vexation at having missed getting OF
what promised TO be a money maker
At the climax in the third act tn,
audience came down in a thunder o
applause. Calls were made for thu
author. but the author did not appear
The manager came before the curtain
and announced that he would appea
at the end Of the play This satisfied
them, and the performance went on.
When the curtain went down on tn
last act not one Of the audience ros'
to 60 The manager came to our DO,
and, Offering his hand to my wife, as
sisted her on to the stage and place.
her before the footllghts. where sh
stood bowling till the applause sub