The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1919-02-13

Rehsn added: "But we don't pay by
performances. I'll pay you twenty
five a week. You wanted money.
There's n little Of it for a start. Do
you want it,"
"Will it lead to anything better?"
cit might"
Am l to understudy Miss Kemble?"
"Yes, and all the other women
roles"
"And when do you suppose I'll get a
chance to play Miss Kemble's part?
Soon?"
"Never, I hope"
"That's e~ncouraging!"
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 a performance at short
Atice. Chances in the other parts
might come any day."
"And you'll give me a better chance
when you can?"
"Indeed I will. If you have the gift,
the soone I find it out and the harder
l work it the more money l make.
The more you earn the more I make.
I'd like to pay you ten thousand a
week."
"Td 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: els Mr.. Bat
terson here? Send him to me-" To
the stenograrher he said: "Fill out a
contract for Miss Kip-Miss- What's
fhe first name? Miss Daphne Kip.
Salary, twenty-five. Make it a three
year contract"
Rcbcn motioncd her absently 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 l."
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 on Il
business basis. He was taking her
at her word.
Before the contracts We're ready
Mr.. Patterson appeared. He was one
of Reben's stage managers, a worried,
emotional 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
and explained her new office. Batter
son seemed zone too well pleased with
the news that Daphne was ignorant
of stage work to the last degree. He
had found it hard enough to make the
experienced actors read their lines as
they must be read ana keep on read
infant how to walk snd talk was an
unwelcome labor.
He took Daphne into his office and
pulled out a set of parts. When she
stumbled over them he cast his eyes
h]eavenward in his swift Impotence.
He explained them with a vinegary
gentlcness. He talked to her of the
canons Of Interpretation. He walked
through her scenes and spoke her lines
for her again and again and yet again.
But somehow he could not teach her.
He tried everything but beating
her. He hattered her, wheeled her,
parodied, satirized. rebuked her, and
occasionally he cursed her. She did
not rebel even against his profanity,
because she had ne confidence in her.
self to support her resistance. She
felt that she was Ger worse than he
said she was whe, he said she was
worst. She used all her funds of res
olution in keeping from throwing down
the part and running away in tears.
right to politeness.
Once Daphne was out in the street
again and released from the ordeal Of
pleasing Batterson, youth and aIbi-
ton brought hope back again. Broad
way at twilight was athrob with n
thusiasm and she caught zest from the
crowds. She was going home to study,
carrying her little set of textbooks like
a schoolgirl. But she felt the wings
Of conquest Hedging at her ankles or
the wheel of fortune spinning under
her toes.
Her very first effort had succeeded.
She was a woman with a salary. She
would be nc longer s. parasite on any
man. She had a career and a business
as well as the best Cf them.
Her mother way at home alone.
Leila had gone f1t,rl that tea party
to another to which Mrs. Kip was not
invited. Daphne's mother greeted her
with relief. She told her news with a
sush Of enthusiasm. 1t left Mrs. Kip
cold, very cold.
She vas a pious, %church-going wom-
an, Mrs. Kip. She had always looked
upon the theater ay n training school
for the still lower regions. She went
to plays occasionally, but usually with
a feeling Of dissipation and worldli-
ness. Besides it was one thing to see
plays and another 10 act them.