The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1918-03-14

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The rest OF II 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
urcs; and the details Of settlement,
which left her more than n hundred
dollars profit, eve after she had de-
Quoted the hundred she owed Rod
ney. The point-the po~int-settled
by Gaibraith's ~prnise-was that she
had succeeded.
II 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 W advantage.
you've certainly got n good eye for
costumes, Miss Dane" Goldsmith said,
"and here's a proposition we'd like to
make. A lot of these other things
we've got for the regular chorus don't
look as good rs they might. You'll be
able to see changes to make in them
that1l improve them maybe fifty per
cent. Well, you take 1t on, and we'll
| otbih RugthH Sou yout iNSuiui uia
now; you understand, twenty-five dol
lars a week, beginning today"
Rose accepted the proposition with
n warm flush OF gratitude. But, from
the moment her little salary began,
she found herself retained, body and
soul. exactly as Galbraith himself
was. They'd bought oil her ideas, all
her energy. all her time, except a
few scant hours for sleep and a few
snatched minutes for meals.
She gave her employers, up to the
time when the piece opened ut the
Globe, ut n conservative calculation,
about five tipes their moneys worth.
Even IL she hadn't been In the COM
pnny, she'd have found something like
two days work In every t~wenty.four
hours. just in the wardrobe room.
There wasn't n single costume outside
Roses W twelve that didn't have to
be remodeled more or less.
On top of all that, the really ter
rible grind OF rehearsals began {:
property rehearsals, curlously discon-
Certing mt first; scenery rehearsals
that caused the stage TO seem small
and cluttered up, and. last and ghast-
Hest. u dress rehearsal, which began
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
II single CLEAN OF hope, you'd have
said 1t was impossible that they
should give my sort OF perform
nnce that ~night-let alone n good one.
But by eight o'clock, when the over.
ture was called, you wouldn't have
known them for the same people.
There was the feeling, or the edge OF
this first performance, that they were
now on their own.
The appearance, bnck on the stage,
Of John Gulbraith In evening dress,
just as the call Of the first act brought
them troOping from their dressing
rooms, intensified this sensation. He
was going to be. tonight. simply one of
the audience.
Rose herself was completely domi-
mated by the new spirit. Her nerves
slack. frayed, numb an hour ago
had sprung ~miraculously into tune.
She not only didn't feel tired. II
seemed she never could feel tired
again.
II wasn't until along In the third
net that the audience became, for her,
lnythlng but n colloid mass-some.
thing that you squeezed and thpmped
and worked ms you did clay, 10 get II
into n properly plastic condition OF
reccptivlty. so that the Jokes, the
songs. the dances, even the spindling
little shafts Of romance that you shot
out into II, could be felt to dig In and
take hold.
But along In the third net, as she
came down to the ~footllghts with the
rest of the scXtette In their "All
Alone" number. N face detached Il.
self suddenly from the pasty gray
surface Of those that spread over the
auditorium; became MISUNDERSTANDING
al-and intensely familiar: became
the face, Enthusiastically, Of Jimmy Wal
lace!
II is probable that of all the au-
dience, only two men saw that any.
thing had happened. so hrIef was the
frozen instant while she stood trans
fixed. One Of them was John Gal.
braith, In the back row. und he let his
breath eo out again In relief almost In
the act OF catching II. He guessed