Evening star., 1932-10-05

gether, turned back to her script. And
Judy, her chin up. her shoulders square.
stood before the micropnone again.
"All right. All right. Begin" the
round little man said.
Judy heard her voice saying the IA
miliar words, the words Elton Day mad
written. Slowly, carefully, with no
falling sound at the end or the sentence,
with no rustling of pages, with no worry
and no fear: even laughing little, con-
fident, serene.
She was right. She could talk She
could make herself say wilat somebody
else wrote and make 1t sound real! II
she couldn't get this job. she'd not be
afraid to try for another one! Upstairs,
somewhere is Dick Mason. listening 70
you, Judy Every word you say, ne
hears. And he said he'd have to be
honest he couldn't vote ror you II you
weren't the best
And SO, good day, and thank you
ALL" she heard her voice saying.
It was over Good or bad. the work
was done And now she must wait.
Wait for all the others. Wait for Iona.
Wait for the word to come down from
the client, upstairs somewhere, and from
Dick, and from some third man who
rounded out the jury.
started to sit down, then decided 1t
| would be better not to listen. it would
be easier if she could not hear the 9TH
ers. But, as she reached the door, sne
| heard the round man calling, MISS
| Burdette."
JUDY. listening. knew that Iona Bur-
dette knew her job She had smooth
and colorful voice, she talked easily, sne
knew the script SO perfectly that much
of the time she did not even look at II.
| She looked utterly poised, perfectly sure.
Suddenly. Judy felt amateurisn, uncer-
| tain. afraid.
Quickly. she left the room, closing the
door behind her. Now she must wait.
Now she must be patient. No matter
how long 1t took.
Slowly the studio door opened. Slow
| ly the girls came out. The girls VINO
went in brave, defiant, desperate, were
not brave now, were beaten. were more
| desperate than ever. They hurried, hav-
| ing nowhere to 60. One girl stopped.
Il beg your pardon" she began. Then
her face crimsoned. She had q thin
little face with enormous eyes. Her
| skin was very pale and her hands were
| like claws. There was a button gone
| from her coat. 1t had been fairly
expensive coat, once. long time ago.
She tried once more. I peg your
pardon"
Gould you'll mean-I haven't ever
done this before. but Flusneo,
| ashamed. she stopped.
Judy looked around quickly. No one
| would see. She took a bill from her
purse, stuffed it into the girls tnln
| hand There" she said. And good
luck"
The girl stammered, tried to speak
turned away very quickly, almost ran
down the hall.
] Now Judy was lost. Should she wait
Was there anything to wait for? was
it all decided? She didn't know. She
knew only that Dick might come, and
that she would know the answer. he
would tell her. So, puzzled, walking
very slowly, she heard quick footsteps
behind her.
| A figure walked beside her. The fig
ure was Iona Burdette.
| There was a door at the end OF the
| corridor. As they reached this door
Iona stepped in front of Judy.
Wait a minute" she said. Her voice
/ was not pleasant now 1t was fat and
brittle, and her eyes were small and
ugly. wait. I've got something tc
| tell you Miss Judy Allison. You got
away with 1t this time. Good stuff. No
body1l ever prove a thing But you'll
wish YOU hadn't! You hear me? You'll
wish you'd never seen this place in your
! life"
Suddenly, she was gone.