Tombstone epitaph., 1917-11-18
wouldn't ask for anything handsom-

The rest OF It didn't matter to Rose
the more guarded but nevertheless
cordial approval Of the two owners.
who had yet to make sure on the fig
ureS; and the details OF settlement,
which left her more than hundred
dollars profit. even after she had de
Quoted the hundred she owed Rod
ney. The Ioin:-the point-settled
by Galhraiths praise-was that she
had succeeded.
1t was. on the whole. a good bar
gain on both sides. But Goldsmith
and Block came back next day and
drove another bargain. principally to
their own advantage.
you've certainly got good eye for
costumes. Miss Dane" Goldsmith said.
"and here's proposition we'd like to
make. A lot of these other things
we've got for the regular chorus don't
look as good as they might. You'll be
able TO see changes TO make in them
that1 improve them maybe fifty per
cent. Well. you take it on, and well
begin paying you your regular salary
now; you understand, twenty-five dol
lars week, beginning today"
Rose accepted the proposition with
| a warm flush of gratitude. But, from
the moment her little salary began.
! she found herself retained, body and
! SOUL exactly as Gagbraith himself
was. They'd bought ali her Ideas, all
her energy. all her time, except a
few scant hours for sleep and few
snatched minutes for meals.
She gave her employers, up to the
time when the piece opened at the
| Globe, at a conservative calculation
about five times their moneys worth
Even If she hadn't been in the com
pany. she'd have found something like
two days work in every twenty-foul
i hours, Just in the wardrobe room
There wasn't a single costume outside
Roses own twelve that didn't have e
be remodeled more or less.
On top Of all that. the really ter
rible grind Of rehearsals began
property rehearsals, curiously discOn
certing ut first; scenery rehearsals
that caused the stage to seem small
and cluttered up, and, last and ghast
lest. dress rehearsal. which begar
at seven O'Clock one night and LASTED
till four the next morning.
II you had seen them that morning
utterly tagged out, unsustained by
a single CLEAN of hope, you'd have
said IL was impossible that they
should give any sort OF perform
ance that night-iet alone good one
Eut By eight O'Clock, when the over
ture was called. you wouldn't hay,
known them for the same people
There was the feeling, on the edge o
this first performance, that they wer'
now on their own.
The appearance, back on the stage
of John Galbraith in evening dres;
lust as the call of the first act brougl,
them trooping from their dressin
rooms, intensified this sensation. II
was going to be, tonight, simply one o
the audience.
Rose herself was completely DOM
mated by the new spirit. Her nerve
slack, frayed. numb an hour ago
had sprung miraculously into tune
She not only didn't feel tired.
seemed she never could feel tire
again.
1t wasn't until along in the thir
act that the audience became. for hel
inything but q cOlioid mass-sOms
thing that you squeezed and thumpe
and worked as you did clay. to get
! into q properly plastic condition c
receptivity. SO that the jokes, III
songs, the dances, even the spindlin
little shafts Of romance that you she
out into it. could be felt to dig In an
take hold.
, But along IN the third act, as sh
, car1e down to the footlights with th
rest of the sextettc In their "A
/ Alone" number, one face detached q
/ self suddenly from the pasty era
/ surface of those that spread over tn
, auditorium: became hurnan-individl
J al-and intensely familiar; becam
the fac... Ynm.stakably. OF s.;sny Wa
: lacei
: 1t is probable that Of all the a,
dience. only two men ssw that an!
: thing had happened. SO Lrief was tn
frozen instant while she stood tran
! fixed. One Of them was John Ga
!, braith, in the back row, and he let hl
: breath go on. again In relief almost
!, the act Of catching It. he guesse