Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-12
The
LOVE STORY
of a
MOVIE STAR
CHAPTER XIX

TT WAS all l could do to hold back
l. my angry tears until I reached the
shelter of the house. The coward, the
coward! The unspeakable sneak. l
had mad thought of arming myself
with my revolver and storming his Office
again. Only this time, would do more
than threaten. ! laughed mirthlessly
when ! thought of how gray his pasty
face would turn when he saw me. OF
course. when l had passed through my
first fit of rage. / saw how useless such
a course would be. But l found child
sh pleasure in conjuring up pictures
of his terror for days after my rebuff.
And all this time, no word from
Roland. OF course, tried to make all
the excuses possible for him. He was
pushed for time and driven with work.
He was about TO return, and expecting
to find me still ut the Henry Irving,
had planned to go over there to surprise
me. Or, no doubt. he had already writ
ten me there, and Beaver Face had in
tcrcepted the letters. But in my heart
| realized that these were idle excuses
[ would have found the time to write,
written to the theatre. Kitty would have
seen the letters in the rack and for
warded them on to my address. l knew
that he had not written, only ! Wouldn I
lct myself believe it. The thought OF
going over to the " Studio occurred
to me more than once. But 1 was
partly restrained by the memory OF my
last disastrous visit, partly by pride,
and partly because ] was unwilling 10
believe that he could have returned TO
town and made no effort to ma me
1t must not be supposed that during
nil This time had confined myself to
looking for work at the managers Offices
and the agencies. | searched the pa
ners daily to find advertisements Tor
pianists wanted to play either tor
| dnnciny classes or for movie houses
even, at Mrs Burkstadts $ snggeS.
tion. inserted modest want al OF
wv own TO this J. received but one
rcp,y. from a dancing professor near
| l25th street. ,
When | went to the address given, l
was much taken abnck to hnd that the
professor was an ebony -colored NeSIo'
The inference. of course, was thnt MS
pupils would be of the same race. 40"
ever. ! would have taken me place mao
| I hcrn able 10 qualify. But the pro-
. |
for me. lie wanted to know with what
dancing academies ! had been connected,
with what tpachcrs | had studied ana II
were familiar with the modern dances
I WAS unable TO give satisfactory replies
to any of these questions, as q matter
Of course. offered to play ior MN
and assured him that | would very
quickly learn to play any new music
to his complete satisfaction. IL was nc
use. He advised me to begin Wlth SomC
more humble establishment ana had III,
impudencc to tell me that attcr nae
become more proficient he might hnc
an opening for ne: =,
I sllpDose ought to have been botf
orgrv and indignant. But he was 81
ridiculously pompous and used such cH
traordinary words without any com
prehension Of their meaning, that haC
the utmost difficulty in keeping my face
straight Once more in the street,
eniovod the most whole hearted laugl
that ] had had for weeks
I don't know what | would have
done all this time if 1t had not been fol
G nv good landlady. ] was the Oni!
woman lodgcr in the house; the res
being, for the most part, clerks wh
worked in some of the shopS III IN
neighborhood. had made up my min
nv large room, to which | had becom
singularly attached. But ! had n
Y idea of leaving her. SO went to he
S and explained frankly tnnt, until some
a thing turned up for me, should b
r obliged To use the utmost economy an
[ asked her to let me have smaller an
g cheaper room, even II | had to go I
the ton of the house. She assured m
{ that every room was taken, but addc
Il that. as my room was very hard to lei
|, she would be more than glad to let IN
n have it at the price of smaller rooI
+, until such time as she should be abl
| to rent it at the full price.
/ l reluctantly consented to this, 3
the understanding that she should u