The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1919-03-21
BY
RUPERT HUGHES


t Reben added: but we don't pay b.
r performances. I'll pay you twenty
t five week. You wanted money
There's a little of it for a start. d.
= you want it?"
'Will it lead to anything better?'
sit might"s
Gam I to understudy Miss KembleY
"Yes, and all the other women
roles"
"And when do you suppose I'll get q
chance to play Miss Kembles part
: Soon7
'Never, hope"
"That's encouragingT
IF Miss Kemble fell i'll we'd ordi-
narily refund the money. because she's
the star. But sometimes we might
have to give performance at short
notice. Chances in the other parts
might come any day."
"And you'll give me a better chance
when you CAM"
Indeed I will. If you have the gift,
the sooner find 1t out and the harder
1 work it the more money I make.
| The more you earn the more I make
I'd like to pay you ten thousand
week."
I'D like to have you. All right,
I'll try"
He pressed a button on his desk
once, then twice. The Office boy ap-
peared, followed by the stenographer.
Reben said to the boy: 'Is Mr.. Bat
terson here? Send him to me-" To
the stenographer he said: "F'ill out
contract for Miss Kip-Miss- What's
the first name? Miss Daphne Kip.
Salary, twenty-five. Make it three
year contract"
Reben motioned her absentIy to her
chair and said, rather for Duane's |
sake than for hers, she felt: "Sit |
down, won't you, till the contracts |
come? and pardon me if +"
He finished the phrase by the deed
The office routine went ON and Daphne
might have been the chair she sat In,
for all the attention he paid her. She
felt rather ungallantly ignored. Still,
she had asked to be treated con a
business basis. He was taking her
at her word
Before the contracts were ready
Mr.. Patterson appeared. He was one
of Reben's stage managers, worried,
little man, worn to shreds
with his task of stimulating and cor
recting the emotions by which others
earned their wages. and fame.
Reben introduced him to Daphne !
md explained her new Office. Batter !
son seemed none too well pleased with
he news that Daphne was ignorant
If stage work to the last degree. He /
lad found it hard enough to make the
actors read their lines as i
hey must be read and keep on read c
ng them SO. To teach this dramatic /
infant how to walk and talk was an n
nwelcome labor. p
He took Daphne into his office and o
ulled out set of parts. When she t.
tumbled over them he cast his eyes o
eavenward in his swift Impotence b
lie explained them with vinegary
entlenesS. He talked to her of the b
anons of Interpretation. He walked a.
trough her scenes and spoke her lines pl
'r her again and again and yet again. h;
ut somehow he could not teach her.
He tried everything but beating
er. He fiattered her, wheedled her,
arodied, satirized, rebuked her, and
he cursed her. She did ne
Ut rebel even against his profanity, w
.cause she had no confidence in her th
IL to support her resistance. She 10
1t that she was far worse than he al
n Oh L. is.f
orst. She used all her funds of res wi
ution In keeping from throwing down oil
e part and running away in tears de
lie had none left for asserting her ST
sht to politeness. as
Once Daphne was out in the street Ill
ain and released from the ordeal of
easing Patterson, youth and ambi- su
n brought hope back again. Broad ~
~ at twilight was athrob with en-
lsiasm and she caught zest from the
'wds. She was going home to study. 81
frying her little set of textbooks like III
schoolgirl. But she felt the wings
conquest Hedging at her ankles or W
!. wheel of fortune spinning under NJ
: toes. hn'
g. e4 s,,a a
der very nrst EFFORT na0 succeeded. .
e was woman with salary. She
uld be no longer a parasite on any ~,
n. She had q career and business Ae.
well as the best OF them
Her mother was at home alone. ~ !,
la had gone from that tea party -.
another to which Mrs. Kip was not
tied. Daphne's mother greeted her :,
b relief. She told her news with
h of enthusiasm. 1t left Mrs. Kip II
!, very cold
he was a pious, church-going wom-
Mrs. Kip. She had always looked II
n the theater as training school
the still lower regions. She went
plays occasionally, but usually with II
ceiling of dissipation and worIdli-
$. Besides 1t was one thing to see II
ys and another to act them.
'aphne tried to reason her mother
Of her backwoods prejudices, but
only frightened her the MORE Mrs
retired to her room to write an
ent telegram to her husband de- r.
adinR that hal come on ut once and h<o.