r. 
 
 BERKELEY X 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
1^ / 
 
 1 
 
A LEADING LADY 
 
 H Stor^ ot tbe Sta^e 
 
 HENRY HERMAN 
 
 JOINT-AUTHOR OF "THE BISHOPS BIBLE, "ONE TRAVELLER RETURNS 
 ' A SINGULAR SENSE OF DUTY,' ETC. 
 
 %oulron 
 
 CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY 
 
 1891 
 
So, Lady Flora, take my lay. 
 
 And if you find no moral there, 
 Go, look in anj- glass and say, 
 
 ^Yhat moral is in being fair. 
 Oh, to what uses shall we put 
 
 The wild-weed flower that simply blows ? 
 And is there any moral shut 
 
 Within the bosom of the rose ? 
 
 II. 
 
 But any man that walks the mead. 
 
 In bud, or blade, or bloom may find, 
 According as his humours lead, 
 
 A meaning suited to his mind. 
 And hberal appUcations lie 
 
 In Art like Nature, dearest friend ; 
 So 'twere to cramp its use, if I 
 
 Should hook it to some useful end. 
 
 Tennyson. 
 
 
 994 
 
A LEADING LADY 
 
 I. 
 
 An elderly bald-lioadecl man, dressed in a seedy 
 gray tweed suit, was standing, hat in hand, at the 
 end of the little narrow passage which gave access 
 to the business othce of the Eoyal Charhig Cross 
 Theatre. In front of him the closed and locked 
 door barred further progress. He shuffled about 
 for a moment or two, as if undecided whether or 
 not to venture upon asking for admittance, and 
 stared at the flaring gaslight which illuminated the 
 little corridor, and turned and twisted upon his 
 heel twice or thrice in evident anxious self-com- 
 nuniion. 
 
 ' ril risk it,' he said to himself ; ^ he can only 
 bite my head off, and be done with it.' 
 
 Witli tliis decision to l)e ready for the worst, he 
 gave a faint and fccljle knock at the closed door. 
 
 1 
 
2 A LEADING LADY 
 
 He waited for awhile, but no answer was re- 
 turned to him. 
 
 He knocked again, with the same result. 
 ' Hang it all !' he said to himself, ' I've got to see 
 him. He's just got to see me, that's about all. 
 The Lord only knows what'll happen if I don't see 
 him.' 
 
 He waited for another minute or so, and then 
 gave a bolder and more imperative knock, accom- 
 panying this summons with the query loudly but 
 falteringly spoken : 
 ' Is Mr. Brewster in ?' 
 
 A voice, gruff and irritated, replied from within : 
 ' No ; he's not.' 
 
 This answer both puzzled and annoyed the bald- 
 headed elderly man. 
 
 ' But that's you speaking, Mr. Brewster,' he 
 retorted. 
 
 ' What if I am ?' came the reply from within the 
 locked door. ' You asked if I was in, and I said no.' 
 ' But, if you please, Mr. Brewster, I must see 
 you — I must speak to you,' pleaded the bald-headed 
 one, stooping down, as if, l)y approaching his mouth 
 to the vicinity of the ke3diole, he could better be 
 heard and understood by the person in the room. 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 3 
 
 ' The supers Sciy they won't go on to-night with- 
 out some mone}'.' 
 
 ' Tell them to go to hlazes, and stay oft' !' roared 
 the man in the room, ' and don't worry me. You 
 ought to know hetter, Carter, than to come here 
 worrying me when I am so worried already.' 
 
 The super-master — for he was the super-master 
 of the Eoyal Charing Cross Theatre — breathed a 
 heavy sigh, and in a voice of emotion, which might 
 have deceived anybody less experienced than the 
 adamant bushiess-manager, he pleaded : 
 
 ' But, Mr. Brewster, you can't mean what you 
 are saying. If the supers don't go on, there'll be 
 no play ; and if there's no play, the audience will 
 want their money back.' 
 
 ' Devilish little will they want to get back in 
 that case, I can tell you !' rejoined the business- 
 manager, still from withhi. ' I suppose I've got to 
 see you, and to hear what you've got to say.' 
 
 Heavy footsteps were heard across the carpet, 
 and the door was unlocked and unbolted. It had 
 apparently Ijeen secured as if intended to defy an 
 onslaught of ])in-glars oi* of a troop of wai'iiors. A 
 big, burly, round-faced, clean-shaven man, witli 
 tiny greenish-l)rown eyes, that were continually 
 
 1—2 
 
4 A LEADING LADY 
 
 blinking, and barely any eyebrows at all, wearing 
 his scanty sandy hair flattened against the sides of 
 his forehead by means of cosmetic and pomade, 
 appeared and scowled at the trembling super- 
 master. He was shirt-sleeved, and wore the waist- 
 coat, trousers, and white tie of evening dress. 
 
 ' Come in,' he cried, ' and don't keep me longer 
 than you can help. Don't stand there shivering as 
 if I were going to eat you. What's up now ? Have 
 they struck '?' 
 
 ' No, Mr. Brewster,' replied the super-master, 
 ' they haven't struck yet, but they're going to. 
 Downright dead certain they are, unless I can give 
 them some money before the curtain goes up.' 
 
 ' And who's put that into their heads ?' cried the 
 business-manager. ' Who's put them up to that 
 dodge ? They were willing to wait till Saturday 
 morning when I spoke to them the night before 
 last. Who's been playing tricks here '? Is that 
 one of your doings, Carter ? If I find it out you'll 
 never again get a day's job in this theatre.' 
 
 ' Oh no, sir — believe me, it isn't me, sir,' retorted 
 the bald-headed man. ' They're all of them hard 
 up — deucedly hard up. You see, they have only 
 been paid half their money last Saturday, and they 
 
A LEA DISC LADY 5 
 
 get so little that they can't afford to go on any 
 longer.' 
 
 ' That isn't it ; don't you come ^Yith that story to 
 me,' replied Bre^Yster. ' There's something very 
 wrong in this husiness, and, mark me, Carter, 
 don't you let me find out that you've had a hand 
 in it.' 
 
 The old man drew himself up. 
 
 ' I don't know what you mean, Mr. Brewster. I 
 have been in this theatre now some six-and-twenty 
 years, and I have done my duty ])y the managers 
 as has been in it, and I'm doing my duty by Mr. 
 Watson now. If you want to know what's wrong 
 in it, I can tell you.' 
 
 ' Well, and what ?' exclaimed the ponderous one 
 ferociousl3\ 
 
 ' That's wrong in it,' replied the old man. ' The 
 big ones — those who get twenty and thirty pounds 
 a week — gets their money, and the working man 
 and the poor super, who has only ten, and twelve, 
 and fifteen shillings a week, doesn't. That's what's 
 wrong in this theatre. Now you have asked me for 
 it, and you have just got the straight grifKn : \\m\ 
 3'ou can take it as you like. And I tell you what, 
 ^Tr. Brewster, I've stood enough of this. You have 
 
6 A LEADING LADY 
 
 charged me with doing underhanded work. I 
 haven't done anything underhanded in my Hfe, 
 and perhaps, if you can, you had better settle this 
 business yourself, and I'll not interfere about it. 
 Good-evening, sir.' 
 
 He bowed politely, turned, and moved to the 
 door. The business-manager glared at the old man 
 fiercely for a moment or two, and then, changing 
 his tone and manner altogether, he said suavely : 
 
 ' Oh, don't cut up like that, Carter ; I didn't 
 mean to say anything against you.' 
 
 ' You charged me with underhand practices, sir,' 
 retorted the old man, feeling that he had gained a- 
 point in standing upon his dignity. 
 
 ' Oh, I did nothing of the kind,' rejoined Brewster ; 
 ' I really didn't.' 
 
 ' You insinuated as much,' replied Carter, being 
 now sure that his services were needed in this 
 emergency, at any rate, and trying to make the 
 most of the momentary position ; ' and I won't let 
 any man say that I do that which I ought to ])e 
 ashamed of.' 
 
 ' Oh, well, drop that now,' answered the big man, 
 ' and let's come to business. How much do they 
 want ? Tell me the lowest farthing you can do with.' 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 7 
 
 ' Here's the list. ^Fr. Brewster,' replied Carter. 
 ' There's fifty odd pounds due to them altogether. 
 There's eighty-six of them, hut I think if I could 
 give them three or four shillings each I could tide 
 over until to-morrow, at any rate.' 
 
 ' You'll have to make a tenner do,' answered 
 Brewster. ' I don't know how I shall manage even 
 that.' 
 
 ' 1 don't think a tenner will do,' retorted the 
 super-master ; ' hut I'll try, if you like. You had 
 better give me fifteen pounds ; I shouldn't like to 
 be responsible to get them on with less than that.' 
 
 ' Y^ou'll have to make a tenner do by hook or by 
 crook,' said Brewster; 'I can't manage more. 
 Come down with me to the pay-box, and I'll see if 
 I can find the money.' 
 
 With that he closed his writing-desk, and put on 
 his evening dress coat. 
 
 ' A deuced shame !' he grumlded ; ' they ought to 
 know better. They have had plenty of our money, 
 and they know they'll get what's due to them. 
 Come along !' 
 
 He locked the office-door, and the pair walked 
 along the passage to the dress-circle level, and 
 descended l)y the pass staircase to the pit and 
 
8 A LEADING LADY 
 
 gallery pay-box. The business-manager put his 
 head through the little hole where the money-taker 
 received payment for the tickets ^Yhich he sold, and 
 asked : 
 
 ' How much have you got, Burton ?' 
 
 The man replied : 
 
 ' Six pound ten.' 
 
 ' Oh, Jerusalem !' exclaimed Brewster. ' The pit 
 choke full, and only sixty-five paid !' 
 
 ' That's all, Mr. Brewster,' answered the man. 
 
 ' And you — how much have you got in the 
 gallery?' he asked the money-taker on the other 
 side. 
 
 ' Five pound twelve.' 
 
 ' Worse than ever!' he ejaculated in a despairing 
 tone. 
 
 ' Yes, sir,' said the money-taker, ' it's getting 
 worse and worse. It'll be about seven pounds odd 
 to-night. Last night we finished with nine pounds 
 three.' 
 
 ' Give me a five-pound bag, each of you,' called 
 out the business-manager ; and receiving two little 
 brown-paper bags, each filled with silver coins, he 
 handed them to the super-master, who was stand- 
 ing l)y his side. 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 9 
 
 ' There, take that. You heard what these men 
 said. You can tell them on the stage — there's no 
 need hidmo- it, else they might tlnnk, because the 
 pit and gallery are full, there's money in the house. 
 Tell them that I am giving them about half of what 
 I have, and that the musicians and the chorus, and 
 the printers and the l)ill-posters, and Heaven only 
 knows who. are all waiting for money in the same 
 way, and then they'll see if I'm doing what is right 
 l)y them.' 
 
 The bald-headed man took the money with a look 
 of pity nearly. 
 
 ' I'll do my best, sir,' he said, ' you can rely 
 upon it. I beg your pardon for having spoken 
 rather huffishly just now ; I didn't mean it, sir.' 
 
 ' All right,' replied Brewster. ' I know you. Go 
 on : do your best.' 
 
 The big man stood for awhile in front of the 
 pay-box, with his crush hat set at the back of his 
 head, and his hands in his trousers-pockets jingling 
 liis keys and coins. 
 
 ' A fine mess,' he said to himself; 'a fine mess 
 we are in ! I'd like to lay a wager there is not 
 twenty pounds in front and not ten pounds at the 
 li])raries — al)Out forty pounds altogether ; and our 
 
lo A LEADING LADY 
 
 expenses are just one hundred and ten pounds a 
 night. I suppose it'll come — it's got to come 
 sooner or later, unless somebody steps into the 
 breach ; and I don't think anybody is likely to step 
 into the breach and fill the big hole with his coin.' 
 
 He walked slowly into the pit, which seethed 
 with people. A sea of human heads was spread 
 before his eyes — a bobbing, rising, half-tumul- 
 tuous sea of men and women, all talking, staring, 
 turning, twisting, as an audience will before the 
 curtain rises. 
 
 ' There are fully seven or eight hundred here,' 
 Brewster continued in self-communion, as he 
 glanced around the big place ; ' and the stalls are 
 filling fast too ; and to think that out of seven or 
 eight hundred only sixty-five have paid — nol)ody 
 w^ould believe it !' 
 
 He walked with slow and measured step to the 
 pit pass-door, and thence went out into the stall 
 lobby. The tide of fashionables in all the glory of 
 evening dress w^as pouring fast into the theatre. 
 The vast entrance-hall was lined wdth exotics and 
 palms ; large mirrors reflected the gleam of crystal 
 lustres ; the thick pile-carpet muffled the footfall ; 
 velvet-covered seats invited the passer to luxurious 
 
A LEADIXG LADY n 
 
 repose. Comfort and wealth were ol)tnisively 
 apparent evervwliere ; no visil)le si.ijjn of that 
 terril)le striip;<i;le, of tliat desperate fip;ht for exist- 
 ence, in ^Yllieh the niana^^-ement of the theatre were 
 momentarily engap;ed. Ladies in furs and plush 
 cloaks, and hi all the finery of the nineteenth- 
 centurv evenhig-dress, and gentlemen in the half- 
 mournful garl) of swallow-tail and white cravat, 
 were streaming past in little crowds. Brewster 
 had to stand aside for a brief space to allow 
 intending spectators to pass by him. They were 
 all chattering gaily, blithely, and little thought 
 that the l)usiness-manager was taking stock of 
 them, and counting them simply like so many 
 heads, each one of whom was either worth ten and 
 sixpence or nothing, according to the kind of 
 voucher they presented to the check-taker. 
 
 ' Nearly all paper,' he said to himself ; ' devilish 
 good paper — a deuced sight too good ! These 
 people ought to pay ; they can afford to pay. I 
 wonder how they all get hold of it — it beats me. 
 "Watson flings his signature about so recklessly.' 
 
 ' Let me look at the stall-sheet,' he said to the 
 man in the l)Ox-office ; and the man handed him 
 tiK! [)a[)('r. 
 
12 A LEADING LADY 
 
 Brewster glanced over it and heaved a great sigh. 
 
 ' It's exactly what I expected — nearly all blue.' 
 
 His step was slower, and he kept his gaze on the 
 ground as, with his hands in his pockets, he 
 strolled up the steps and walked upstairs to his 
 own office. As he stopped in the passage to unlock 
 his door, he noticed that a man was waiting for 
 him. 
 
 ' It's you, Harvey. What have you come for ? 
 Why aren't you in the orchestra ?' 
 
 ' I've come for money, Brewster,' replied the 
 other. ' The band won't play unless they get 
 some money.' 
 
 ' Why, they had money last night,' retorted the 
 official. ' I gave you five pounds last night.' 
 
 ' My dear Brewster,' answered Harvey, ' what's 
 the good of five pounds ? You owe them nearly 
 ninety. What's the good of five pounds among 
 twenty-three men. I've not asked a farthing for 
 myself, and I want it badly enough, God knows ! 
 I have a sick wife at home, and one of my children 
 is laid up as well ; but that don't matter. The men 
 say they won't play unless they get something.' 
 
 'Come in!' growled the business - manager ; 
 * don't let's talk about these things out here where 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 13 
 
 we can be overheard. This is getting too awful ! 
 And how much do you want "?' 
 
 'Well, I hardly know,' stammered the conductor 
 of the orchestra. ' I really can't say. You must 
 give me whatever you can. and as much as you 
 can.' 
 
 ' ril do what's possible. I'll try to make it 
 another live pounds,' suggested Brewster. ' I sup- 
 pose that will pacify them, at any rate.' 
 
 ' It will not,' rejoined the musician sharply. 
 
 • I'm sure it will not. Five pounds will be less 
 than live shillings apiece, and they won't take that, 
 I'm certam. And you must be in a hurry about it 
 too, because they're going to ring in the band in a 
 moment, and the men won't go into the orchestra 
 until they have my assurance that I have some 
 coin.' 
 
 ' I'll remember all this, Harvey, when the next 
 l>iece comes, and things go all right,' said Brewster. 
 
 • 1 know it's not your fault ; you've stuck to us 
 well enough. But there'll be such a change in this 
 theatre, when things alter, as has never been in it 
 l)efore. I'll remember those who stood by us and 
 tliose wlio worried my life out.' 
 
 ' My dear boy," retorted the musician, ' it's no use 
 
14 A LEADING LADY 
 
 talking like that a bit. You know my feelings on 
 the subject, and I can't blame the men for trying 
 to get the means wherewith to live. They're paid 
 badly enough, Heaven knows ! The musician in a 
 theatre gets barely the salary of a utility man, and 
 he must pass through a skilled training to earn that.' 
 ' I'll try and make it ten pounds,' said Brewster ; 
 ' but I haven't got it now ; you must come to me 
 for it after the first act, when the front money is 
 all in.' 
 
 ' I have your word that I shall have ten pounds?' 
 asked the conductor. 
 
 'You have my word. Y^ou shall have ten 
 pounds.' 
 
 ' Mind you, I'll rely upon you,' retorted the 
 other. ' There'll be a riot if the men are deceived, 
 I'm sure.' 
 
 ' Y^ou will not be deceived,' answered Brewster. 
 ' Come back after the curtain is down for the first 
 act.' 
 
 ' I wonder who will come and want money next,' 
 he said to himself when Harvey had left. ' I sup- 
 pose it will go on like that all through the evening. 
 After all, it's only filling in the breach with sand. 
 The whole place is bound to tumble down over our 
 
A LEA DISC LADY 15 
 
 ears before lon,u;, unless help comes from some- 
 where ; and Avhere it is to come from heaven only 
 knows.' 
 
 He sat himself down l)y his desk, which he 
 opened, and in an abstracted manner fmnbled 
 amono; his papers. At last his wandering fingers 
 found a big, manifoldly-ruled sheet filled with 
 figures. He glanced over it with a searching eye. 
 
 ' Nearly a thousand pounds wanted to meet the 
 most pressing things, about fifteen hundred for the 
 others. Two thousand five hundred pounds, and 
 every night that God sends we lose between sixty 
 and seventy pounds more. A nice fix to be in ; 
 and Watson doesn't seem in the least to appreciate 
 his position !' 
 
 He went to the speaking-tube in the corner of 
 
 the room, and communicated thereby with the 
 
 ])Ox-office keeper below\ 
 
 ' Leave Dudley in charge of the box-office, and 
 
 luring up your rough sheets and all the money you 
 
 have. Bring them up as soon as you can; I want 
 
 them.' 
 
 ' I suppose he has twenty-five pounds with the 
 
 advance booking,' he went (m to Inmself, ' and that 
 
 will help a little.' 
 
1 6 A LEADING LADY 
 
 A furtive knock at the door stopped liim in his 
 self-communion. 
 
 ' Come in !' he cried. 
 
 A short, round-faced, pug-nosed man entered, 
 his grayish-green eyes twinkled with mischief ; an 
 unconscious grin sat on his face, and as he ^Yalked 
 with short steps, his hands were folded hehind his 
 back. He shuffled up to Brewster's desk, and 
 then, bending over, made a great pretence of 
 secrecy, and whispered : 
 
 ' Mr. Watson wants you to send him down live- 
 and- twenty pounds.' 
 
 That said, he produced from behind his back a 
 folded note, which, wdth ceremonious flourish and 
 bow, he handed to the business-manager. 
 
 ' My dear Brewster,' it ran, ' please give my 
 dresser five-and-twenty pounds. He has got my 
 instructions w^iat to do with it.' 
 
 ' And what are you supposed to do with it. 
 Masters?' asked the big man in a ponderous 
 despair. 
 
 ' I don't mind telling you, Mr. Brewster,' 
 whispered the little man in a confidential under- 
 tone : ' I'm to take it to Miss Northcote's dressing- 
 room.' 
 
.1 LEADIXG LADY 17 
 
 ' That's too l)ad, l)y Jove !' cried Brewster. ' Mr. 
 AVatson isn't on the stage vet, is he ?' he asked. 
 
 ' No, he isn't going on for ten minutes yet,' 
 rephed the dresser. 
 
 ' Tell him I'll he down to see him in a moment.' 
 
 ' But the money, the money ?' inquired the little 
 man. 
 
 ' ril see Mr. Watson ahout that. You go and 
 take him my message,' was the answer. 
 
 Mr. Randolph Waithhraite AVatson, comedian and 
 manager of the Eoyal Charing Cross Theatre, was 
 a tall, slim, but elegantly-built man, with wavy hair 
 of that naturally reddish auburn which foolish 
 women strive so hard to imitate by dyes. He had 
 pleasant, clear-cut features which his friends termed 
 classic, and which he himself was proud to com- 
 pare with the lithographic and engraved portraits 
 of Lord Byron. Admirers found in his lineaments 
 a resemblance to Shelley as well ; others went so 
 far as to discover in that massive brow, in those 
 hrm-set lips, and that slightly-aquiline nose, the 
 makings of a head of Shakespeare — and this 
 generally happened when the great comedian wore 
 the costume of the Elizabethan period. Just then 
 he was playing the 2:>art of the glorious ))achelor 
 
 2 
 
i8 A LEADING LADY 
 
 of ' Much Ado about Nothing,' and those same 
 friends vowed him the very picture of Benedick as 
 limned by their imaginings. It all depended upon 
 the part the popular actor was impersonating on 
 the stage. He was a handsome man — there was 
 no doubt al)out that ; and his flatterers had ample 
 basis for their adulations. His movements, which 
 had been naturally graceful, had become studied 
 and slightly artificial through long habit of the 
 theatre, and he spoiled an otherwise polished and 
 distinguished manner by little tricks of vanity 
 which were nearly feminine in their triviality. 
 
 Mr. Watson's dressing-room was situated on the 
 stage level. It was a comfortable and cosy apart- 
 ment, divided into two portions by a set of heavy 
 l)rownish-green velvet curtains, the inner part being 
 the actor's sanctum, and devoted to the actual dress- 
 ing, the outer division remaining reserved for the 
 visits of friends and other persons who had dealings 
 with him while he was engaged upon his nightly 
 duties. Photographs of well-known actors and 
 actresses, mezzotint portraits of Peg Woffington 
 and of David Garrick, another of Edmund Kean, 
 and the well-known engraving of Mrs. Siddons as 
 the Tragic Muse, after Sir Joshua Eeynolds, adorned 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 19 
 
 the walls. There was an abundance of mirrors ; a 
 large-framed cheval-glass stood m one corner, 
 opposite it a big mirror occupied the whole side of 
 the wall ; a little w^ay beyond, a trifold - glass 
 glittered below a big, double, universal - jointed 
 gaslight. The couch, seats, and chairs about the 
 room were upholstered with the same brownish- 
 green velvet which had furnished material for the 
 curtains. On the marble slab of the gilt console- 
 table in one corner stood a vase containing a 
 freshly-cut bouquet, and a faded, huge laurel- 
 wreath, the big ribbons inscribed with the gilded 
 words : ' To Eandolph Watson, His many admirers,' 
 was suspended on the wall by its side. 
 
 The comedian was dressed ready for his part of 
 Benedick when Brewster entered the room. He 
 had played tlie mlc fully hundreds of times, yet he 
 was repeating the lines to himself in a mechanical, 
 matter-of-fact manner as he was walking up and 
 down the place. Brewster stood still for a moment, 
 and then ejaculated a discreet cough. 
 
 'Oh, it's you, Brewster!' said the manager; 
 ' and what's up now '? Why didn't you give 
 Masters the money ?' 
 
 ' I didn't give Masters the money,' replied the 
 
 2—2 
 
20 A LEADING LADY 
 
 business-manager, ' for tlie simple reason that I 
 can't give it to him.' 
 
 ' Can't ?' asked Watson ; ' why can't you ? Isn't 
 there five-and-twenty pounds in the house ?' 
 
 'Yes,' \Yas the retort, rather bitterly expressed, 
 ' there is five - and - t^Yenty pounds in the house. 
 There's even forty-three pounds six shillings and 
 sixpence in the house, but ten pounds and sixpence 
 of that is " libraries." ' 
 
 ' Goodness gracious !' exclaimed the actor- 
 manager, ' only forty-three pounds in the whole 
 house ?' 
 
 ' That's all,' Brew^ster went on, in a tone of 
 acerbity. ' I've just taken the first return. Six 
 pounds eight in the pit, seven pounds thirteen in 
 the gallery, nineteen pounds five in front, and ten 
 pounds and sixpence libraries, making altogether 
 forty- three pounds six shillings and sixpence. 
 There's thirty-three pounds six in cash, and in 
 addition to that Bentley has two pounds fifteen 
 advance booking, making altogether thirty - six 
 pounds in money.' 
 
 ' Well,' exclaimed the comedian, ' if you have 
 thirty-six pounds, why couldn't you send five-and- 
 twenty,?' 
 
A LEADING LADY 21 
 
 ' The reason is very simple,' answered the ])ig 
 man. ' I've paid out of that ten pounds to the 
 supers. Carter came and told me that they would 
 strike and refuse to oq on if I didn't send them 
 some money ; and Harvey has been to me just now 
 and insisted upon having ten pounds, or the band 
 would not go into the orchestra. I've given my 
 word that I would send them the money after the 
 first act — that leaves only sixteen pounds. Nearly 
 live pounds of that will l)e wanted for the advertise- 
 ments in the dailies.' 
 
 ' "What !' cried the manager, ' do you mean to 
 say that Smith has broken his contract ?' 
 
 ' No ; he has not broken his contract,' replied 
 Brewster. ' "We have broken ours by not paying 
 him ; and now we have to send our own advertise- 
 ments to the papers nightly, and pay cash. We 
 can't Ijlame the man ; we owe him nearly four 
 liundred pounds, and he says he won't go any 
 furtliei-. I shall have about fifteen or sixteen 
 pounds left when all's said and done ; and Heaven 
 (jnly knows wdiat calls will come on me for that 
 before the night's over !' 
 
 ' But I must have the livc-and-twenty pounds by 
 liook or by crook,' said Watson desperately; 'I 
 
22 A LEADING LADY 
 
 have promised Miss Nortbcote that she should 
 have it.' 
 
 ' She simply can't have it. You can't get blood 
 from a stone,' said Brewster. ' She's ^Yell off enough 
 to wait — let her wait.' 
 
 ' She says she won't wait, and that if she does 
 not get her money, she will not go on ; and it 
 doesn't matter much who keeps the curtain down, 
 whether it is the supers, the orchestra, or the lead- 
 ing lady.' 
 
 ' I don't think, Watson,' said the business- 
 manager, drawing a heavy breath, ' that Miss 
 Nortbcote will refuse to go on. She knows there 
 is an understudy ready. I have given my word to 
 Harvey that the orchestra shall have ten pounds, 
 and my w^ord is yours ; we can't break that. I'll 
 send Miss Nortbcote whatever money I have at my 
 disposal when the curtain goes down, and that's as 
 much as I can do.' 
 
 ' I heard what you said !' exclaimed a lady, who 
 had unperceivedly entered the room. ' I am not 
 to have my money, then ?' 
 
 She was a handsome woman of imperious stature 
 and manner, wdth cold, passionless eyes, thin lips, 
 and a round, nearly doll-like face, crowned by a 
 
A LEADING LADY 23 
 
 shock of glossy dark hair. The costume of 
 Beatrice sat well on her rol)iist figure, and gave 
 her an air of stateliness. 
 
 ' You shall have whatever is possible, Miss 
 Northcote,' answered Brewster ; ' more than that 
 no man can do.' 
 
 ' But you owe me over a hundred pounds, Mr. 
 Watson ; and I'll not go on in this sort of way any 
 longer ! I know better, of course, than to disgrace 
 myself while the audience are in the house ; but if 
 to-night I do not get at least a substantial instal- 
 ment of the money due to me, you can look for 
 another Beatrice to-morrow.' 
 
 With that she swept from the room. At that 
 moment the noise of a tumult, coming from the 
 stage, reached the ears of the two men. Voices 
 raised in anger were distinguishable where silence 
 ought to have reigned. 
 
 ' AVhat in Heaven's name is the matter now ?' 
 cried Watson, as his dresser rushed into the room. 
 
 ' It's the carpenters and property-men that have 
 struck,' replied Masters. ' They've heard that the 
 supers have had some money, and they won't let 
 the curtain go up before they are paid in tlieir 
 
 tUl'H.' 
 
24 A LEADING LADY 
 
 'You had better go on the stage, Watson, and 
 say a few words to them. They'll pay attention to 
 you, if to nobody else,' suggested the business- 
 manager. ' I'll run round in the meantime and 
 see what can be scraped together. The curtain 
 must, of course, go up, if we have to pawn our 
 watches to see it through.' 
 
 With that he rushed away towards the front of 
 the house. 
 
 'Eun away, my friend, and pawn (/our watch if 
 you like, but not mine,' muttered the comedian. 
 ' I've had about enough of this, and I don't intend 
 to be left altogether naked in the street. I'll cut 
 this Gordian knot after my own fashion.' 
 
 He strolled leisurely on to the stage. Groups of 
 excited men in working dress were vociferating 
 angrily and loudly. They stepped aside to let 
 their employer pass. 
 
 ' Here's the governor himself !' cried one of the 
 stage hands. ' Stand together like men ! Make no 
 bones about it, and tell him that we mean to have 
 our rights !' 
 
 * All right, my good man,' replied the manager. 
 'You shall have your rights. But the audience 
 must have theirs first of all. Come to my dress- 
 
A LEADING LADY 25 
 
 ing-room all of you when the stage is set for the 
 second act. I will talk to you. But now,' he 
 added, in a tone of command that was not to l)e 
 misunderstood, ' I'll have no nonsense ! Clear the 
 stage ! Clear it, all of you, this instant !' 
 
 The spirit of discipline courageously appealed to 
 was easily victorious. There was a scampering of 
 many feet, and in another moment the stage was 
 empty though the wings were crowded. 
 
 ' Now ring up sharp !' cried Watson, and the 
 curtain rose and disclosed to the audience the first 
 set of ' Much Ado about Nothing.' 
 
II. 
 
 Mr. Edward Brewster, though nominally the 
 business-manager of the Eoyal Charing Cross 
 Theatre, was virtually a partner. He owned a 
 one-third share and interest in the lease and busi- 
 ness of the theatre, and in that one-third share he 
 had invested all his worldly possessions. He had 
 originally been in the army, and had after that 
 successively and equally unsuccessfully tried the 
 Bar, civil engineering, and financing. Like most 
 men about town, he had a hearty liking for the 
 theatre, and was thus drawn towards his present 
 occupation. He was a sharp, shrewd man of the 
 world, who had served in a hard school, and was 
 therefore well suited for the post which he filled. 
 To him the failure of the existing management of 
 the Charing Cross Theatre meant temporary ruin. 
 He would have to go out into the world and com- 
 mence anew ; perhai^s he would have to take the 
 
A LEADING LADY 27 
 
 acting or Inisiness management of some country 
 theatre or touring company. Positions in town 
 like the one he occupied were scarce, and to men 
 without capital nearly unohtainahle. When he 
 had reached the dress-circle lobhy he was quite out 
 of breath, and he walked slowly towards his office, 
 looking neither to the right nor to the left, with 
 his hands behind his back, and his hat set at the 
 l)ack of his head. 
 
 The box-office keeper was waiting for him at the 
 door of his office. 
 
 ' Mr. Miller is downstairs,' said the man, ' and 
 wants to see you particularly.' 
 
 ' What a bore that man is !' exclaimed Brewster; 
 ' and just now of all evenings in the year ! Give 
 me your money and your sheet ; I'll check them 
 by-and-by. Where's Mr. Miller ?' 
 
 ' He's in the stall-bar at the present moment,' 
 replied the l)Ox-office keeper. ' Shall I send him 
 up to you ?' 
 
 ' Yes,' answered Brewster, 'you had better do so. 
 I'll get rid of him, and then go on with my work. 
 This act plays forty-five minutes, doesn't it ?' 
 
 ' Yes, sir,' replied the man, and went out. 
 
 ' Fortv-five minutes' breathing-tinu'/ Ui-ewster 
 
28 A LEADING LADY 
 
 muttered to himself — ' forty-five minutes' respite. 
 It isn't very long, and if we get through this night 
 all right it will he a miracle.' 
 
 He sat himself down hy his open desk and 
 counted the money that the box-office keeper had 
 left, and compared the amount with the figures on 
 the sheet before him. He made a great and brave 
 display of the jingling coin and of the two five- 
 pound notes which were among them, when a tall, 
 pale-faced, fair-haired, blue-eyed man entered the 
 room. 
 
 He might have been five or six and thirty, and 
 his face bore a diffident smile. He was dressed in 
 the perfection of the tailor's art. In one hand he 
 carried a glossy hat, while with the other he held 
 to his lips a tasselled and silver-headed cane. A 
 monocle was stuck in one eye, the lips were half 
 open and showed a row of uneven and rebellious 
 teeth. 
 
 ' Oh, I hope I am not interrupting you, Brewster,' 
 he lisped. ' I shall be very sorry if I am interrujDt- 
 ing you.' 
 
 ' Don't mention it — pray, don't mention it ; I'm 
 always pleased to see you,' rejoined Brewster, 
 scattering the sixpences and shillings and half- 
 
A LEADING LADY 29 
 
 crowns of one paper- bag on to the desk and count- 
 ing them energetically in the intervals between his 
 phrases. ' You don't mind me going on with my 
 ])usiness while I am speaking to you. I can talk 
 and do this sort of thing at the same time.' 
 
 Mr. Miller's eyes followed the movements of the 
 business-manager with avidity. 
 
 ' How nice it is to be engaged in a theatre !' he 
 said. ' How pleasant it must be ! Nothing to do 
 l)ut to amuse yourself and to count money.' 
 
 ' Nothing much, oh dear !' retorted Brewster 
 with a smile. ' Don't think it's always like that. 
 I don't say that we haven't our share of the good 
 things, but there are times when we have to work 
 hard, you know — downright hard, my boy ;' and the 
 l)road, heavy, fat hand came down with a slap on 
 the tall man's thin and bony knee. 
 
 The eyeglass bounced from its accustomed place, 
 and Miller put aside his stick and rubbed his 
 trousers as if trying to coax them into smooth 
 order. 
 
 'You are strong, Brewster,' he said with a laugh 
 that had no gaiety in it. ' You are enthusiastic in 
 your expressions. That's always the way with you 
 theatrical people. You live amidst so much excite- 
 
30 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ment that a little extra forcibleness comes natural 
 to you.' 
 
 Brewster by that tmie had counted the small 
 piles over and over again, and having got tired of 
 the show he was making of the theatre's tiny 
 treasury, he turned round in his revolving writing- 
 chair and faced his visitor. 
 
 ' Well, Miller,' he said, ' my ])ox-office keeper 
 told me that 3'ou wanted to speak to me particularly. 
 What have you got to say ? I am waiting to listen. 
 Out with it, my boy.' 
 
 Under this direct attack of question the tall, thin 
 man shrank back in his chair, and, pursing his 
 lips while he stroked his chin with one hand, 
 he hummed and hawed for the space of a few 
 seconds. 
 
 'Well, I hardly know,' he stammered. ' I don't 
 quite know that it is my business, but I thought 
 I'd come and ask you, because, if there is a 
 chance ' 
 
 ' A chance of what ?' interrupted Brewster. 
 ' Wliat are you talking about ?' 
 
 A faint gleam of hope shone across his darkness. 
 Herbert Winthrop Miller was rich. He was a 
 nephew of one of the partners in the famous 
 
A LEADING LADY 31 
 
 banking firm of Castor, Dundas, Miller, and Co. 
 He was a particular friend of Mr. Barnabv Walker, 
 the great dramatic critic, and in company with 
 that gentleman had been several times ' suspected ' 
 of dabbling in theatrical speculations. Here was a 
 man who could help if he only would. 
 
 ' I was in the City to-day,' replied Miller hesi- 
 tatingly, ' and I heard there that you were looking 
 for a partner.' 
 
 The ponderous business-manager had, by dint of 
 severe schooling, become a finished comedian. As 
 a matter of fact, he had hunted all through the 
 City that day, and through the West-End too, for 
 the purpose of raising money by hook or by crook. 
 He had oftered exorbitant interest for the discount 
 of bills. He had tried to mortgage the lease, he 
 had endeavoured to raise money by the sale of a 
 share in the profits and business of the theatre, 
 and in all of these attempts he had equally and 
 signally failed. The lease was declared to be not 
 valuable property, ))ut an encum])rance ; of profits 
 he could show none, the signatures of himself and 
 his partner were absolutely undiscountable. He 
 was not a naturally untruthful or dishonest man, 
 but he had moved for months in an atmosphere of 
 
32 A LEADING LADY 
 
 deception. His theatre had for some time past 
 been steadily going towards ruin. He had been 
 forced — rehictantly at first, and then with less 
 repentance — to resort to fiction when supposed to 
 be stating facts about Mr. Randolph Watson's man- 
 agement. Papered houses, exaggerated takings, 
 tradesmen's claims to be delayed, and the like, had 
 all combined to dull his inborn sense of truthful- 
 ness, until at last he had come to look upon lying 
 merely as business, as a sort of comedy to be 
 played for his and his partner's profit. By that he 
 meant no more to act dishonestly than the trades- 
 man who praises, say, a faded pair of curtains. 
 Here was a bird ready to be ensnared, and when a 
 bird of his own accord entered the net, he deserved 
 — according to Mr. Brewster's theories of natural 
 economy — to be made to pay dearly for his rash- 
 ness. 
 
 ' I ? A partner ?' he exclaimed in a tone of well- 
 assumed surprise. ' My dear boy, what are you 
 talking about ? A partner where ?' 
 
 ' For this theatre, of course !' answered the young 
 man, taken rather aback. ' Huntingdon, my 
 broker, told me, and he never says anything but 
 what he knows to be a fact.' 
 
A LEADING LADY 33 
 
 The hand that was to drag Messrs. Watson and 
 Co. out of the mire was ready for the work. It 
 only requu'ed gentle and skilful treatment and it 
 would shower its gold. 
 
 ' What nonsense, my boy !' retorted Brewster. 
 ' Why should I want a partner ? This is one of 
 the most popular theatres in London, and at times 
 we have taken as much as two thousand pounds a 
 week in this place.' 
 
 Miller had not moved long enough among 
 theatrical men to be well informed about the 
 financial position of the Charing Cross manage- 
 ment. He had heard rumours that they ' were in 
 Queer Street,' as his acquaintances called it ; but 
 he had no idea of the depth of the gulf into which 
 they were tumbling headlong. Yet he knew that 
 Brewster's statement was a barefaced exaggeration. 
 
 ' Yes, at times,' replied Miller with a nearly 
 imperceptil)le sneer ; ' ])ut I don't think you are 
 taking two thousand pounds a week now.' 
 
 'No,' replied the big man, with a slight shrug of 
 the shoulder and a manner of feeble straight- 
 forwardness, ' we are not taking two thousand a 
 week ; that's the truth. But that is no reason 
 why people should s]:)read rumours that we want to 
 
 3 
 
34 A LEADING LADY 
 
 get rid of a share in the theatre. I don't mind 
 telling you we want money for the next pro- 
 duction, which is to be very big, something that 
 will astonish the natives, you know, my dear boy ; 
 but w^e can raise that at any time by paying bank 
 interest.' 
 
 The bird became scared lest the poacher should 
 not feel inclined to snare him. 
 
 ' Well, I don't know how it's got about,' said 
 Miller rather despairingly, ' and I don't know 
 whether it's true or not ; but there is a rumour 
 all through the clubs that you are not doing as 
 well as you appear to be.' 
 
 * My boy, what nonsense !' answered Brewster. 
 ' People always will meddle with things that don't 
 concern them. I don't say that Watson and 
 myself might not take a partner if the conditions 
 were very favourable, for naturally we prefer to 
 get up the next piece with our own money instead 
 of having to go into the City for it ; but that is no 
 reason for stating that we are hunting for a 
 partner. The terms would have to be very easy 
 indeed.' 
 
 ' I am not very particular,' answered Miller 
 rather mournfully ; ' as long as I get some return 
 
A LEADING LADY 35 
 
 for my money I don't mind. I have more than 
 enough to hve on, and I won't bother myself much 
 about the profits.' 
 
 The bird was fast setthng down on the snare. 
 Here was a rescue at last ; here was the man who 
 was able to fill the big breach with his gold, the 
 breach through which the torrent of disaster was 
 sweeping at that very moment, and threatening 
 to drag with it the whole structure of the Charing 
 Cross management. 
 
 ' And then, you know,' Brewster went on, * you're 
 not accustomed to theatrical management, and you 
 would be of very little service here. Don't you 
 imagine that a theatrical manager's life is a bed of 
 roses. You'd soon get tired of it. Be warned, my 
 boy ; you have plenty of other means of investing 
 your money ; take my word, you are better out of 
 the theatre.' 
 
 A knock at the door roused him to a sense of his 
 outer surroundings. 
 
 ' Come in !' he cried in a tone of anger. 
 
 One of the dress-circle attendants entered. His 
 face was pale, and he rubbed his hands against one 
 another excitedly. 
 
 ' I beg your pardon,' he stammered ; ' 1 am sorry 
 
 3—2 
 
36 A LEADING LADY 
 
 for interrupting you, Mr. Brewster — but — but — 
 
 but ' 
 
 Brewster perceived immediately that something 
 
 * Wait outside,' he said ; ' I'll come to you in a 
 minute. — Somebody ill in the stalls, I suppose,' he 
 continued, turning to his visitor whilst the man left 
 the room, ' or a row in the gallery. That, you see, 
 is one of the bothers of a manager's existence. 
 People expect him to look after these things him- 
 self. Every single soul in the audience thinks that 
 he has a claim upon him. I shan't keep you long,' 
 he added, closing his desk without locking it ; ' I'll 
 be back in a minute.' 
 
 He rushed out into the passage. 
 
 * What's the matter ?' he whispered to the 
 attendant, who was waiting for him. ' Speak 
 quietly ; I don't want to be overheard by that man 
 in there.' 
 
 ' There's a riot at the back of the stage,' said the 
 man. 
 
 ' A riot ? Where, for God's sake ?' questioned 
 the business-manager. 
 
 'In the carpenters' shop and in the supers' 
 room. The men are fighting. Some of them 
 
A LEADING LADY 37 
 
 called the others " blacklegs," and said that they 
 ought not to have allowed the curtam to go up 
 before they were paid, and so they came from 
 words to blows. The master carpenter's had his 
 head cut open.' 
 
 ' Does Mr. Watson know of this ?' asked Brew- 
 ster. 
 
 ' I think he does,' the man replied. ' Masters 
 came to me and asked me to run to you.' 
 
 ' Wait here a moment,' replied the big man, 'and 
 I'll tell 3^ou what to do.' 
 
 He strolled with leisurely step back into his office. 
 
 ' It's what I expected,' he said ; ' a row. What 
 nonsense to worry me with it ! I have something 
 else to attend to at the same time. You don't mind 
 waiting for a moment ?' 
 
 ' Oh dear no,' answered Miller ; ' I'll wait as long 
 as you like.' 
 
 Brewster went to his desk and collected all the 
 money that was there. He counted it, and placed 
 it in a strong paper bag ; then he wrote on a scrap 
 of paper : 
 
 ' My dear AVatson, — I have a man here who 
 may save us. I send you all the money there is in 
 
38 A LEADING LADY 
 
 the place. Do the best you can with that, and 
 perhaps before the evenmg is out I may have more ; 
 but, for Heaven's sake, gain time, and see that the 
 audience learns nothing about the state of our 
 affairs.' 
 
 Having scribbled that, and enclosed it in an 
 envelope, he went out into the lobby again, and 
 gave both the bag of money and the note to the 
 attendant. 
 
 ' Take this to Masters,' he said, ' immediately. 
 When you have done that, get the policemen from 
 the pit, and from the gallery, and from the front, 
 and take them to Mr. Watson on the stage. He'll 
 tell them what to do.' 
 
 A haggard smile played over his face as he re- 
 entered the room, locked his door, and seated him- 
 self at his desk. 
 
 ' I shall not allow myself to be interrupted again, 
 Miller,' he said. ' Now we can talk a little more at 
 our leisure.' 
 
 His fingers twitched nervously, while he played 
 in a careless manner with his watch-chain. 
 
 ' And how much do you think,' he continued, 
 ' that, say, a quarter share in this theatre is worth ?' 
 
A LEADING LADY 39 
 
 ' I don't want a share in the theatre,' repHed 
 Miller pomtedly, ' either in its responsibilities or in 
 its management. I want to be a sort of sleeping- 
 partner, ril advance so much money, and in 
 return for that, if there are any profits, I'll take a 
 certain share of them.' 
 
 ' Oh,' exclaimed Brewster, ' you don't want to 
 take any risk ?' 
 
 ' Not if I can help it. Nothing beyond the money 
 I advance,' w^as the ready reply. 
 
 ' But supposing the money invested were lost, 
 what then ?' asked the business-manager. 
 
 ' Well, it would be awkward,' answered the young 
 man ; ' but I suppose if it were lost it couldn't be 
 helped.' 
 
 ' You are willing to go as far as that, then ?' asked 
 the Ijusiness-manager. He drew his armchair 
 closer to his visitor. ' I can see through it, my 
 dear Miller,' he said ; ' there's a lady in the case.' 
 
 The blue-eyed man dropped his eyeglass again, 
 and endeavoured l)y a fierce fight with the ob- 
 streperous object to gain breathing- time, and to 
 recover from the surprise of the assault. 
 
 ' Well, I don't mind saying,' he replied at last, 
 * there is a lady in the case.' 
 
40 A LEADING LADY 
 
 *I guessed so,' retorted the other. 'There's 
 always some lady or other in a case of this kind. 
 I never have known a man who wanted to go into a 
 theatre yet, or into a partnership in a theatre, who 
 hadn't a lady to push on. Who is the young 
 person, if you please ?' 
 
 ' You needn't be afraid about her,' answered 
 Miller ; ' she is well worth being pushed on. She's 
 as clever as she is pretty, and as pretty as she is 
 clever.' 
 
 ' That's rather comparative, isn't it. Miller ?' 
 suggested the man of business. ' She may be 
 neither, for all we know. I'll be a judge of that 
 when I see her. What's her name ?' 
 
 * Her name is Sybil Collier,' replied the visitor. 
 
 * Ahem ! ahem !' grunted Brewster. ' Sybil 
 Collier ! I think I've heard her name, but I don't 
 know much about her. Well, I dare say you have 
 a photograph of her about you ?' 
 
 ' I haven't, to tell you the truth ; but I've better 
 than that. The young lady herself is in the stalls, 
 and I'll bring her up to you, if you like.' 
 
 He rose, as if he intended to leave. 
 
 * Stop a minute,' Brewster went on. ' Before we 
 go as far as that I should like to know how much 
 
A LEADING LADY 41 
 
 you are willing to invest. I suppose you won't 
 object to six or seven thousand ?' 
 
 ' Oh, Jeminy !' was the startling answer. ' Six 
 or seven thousand ! I thought two or three at the 
 outside.' 
 
 ' What's the good of that, my dear boy?' snarled 
 Brewster. ' Two or three thousand ! If the young 
 lady whom you desire to push on makes a failure 
 in the piece that is got up for her, we shall lose 
 that in the production and the first week or two. 
 You'll have to spring rather more than that.' 
 
 ' Well, we'll talk about that when I come back,' 
 said the tall young man. ' I won't mind a trifle if 
 I can get a proper position and a proper opening 
 for Miss Collier. You'll like her when you see her, 
 I'm sure.' 
 
 Loud and repeated knocks at the door startled 
 both men. 
 
 ' Please, Mr. Brewster — Mr. Brewster !' exclaimed 
 an excited voice outside. 
 
 Brewster recognised the voice. He rushed to the 
 door. Masters was standing there in a state of 
 trepidation. All the twinkle of humour had gone 
 out of the usually so jovial little round face. 
 
 ' For God's sake, come round !' he cried, whilst 
 
42 A LEADING LADY 
 
 the business-manager made desperate secret signs 
 to induce him to stop. ' They're all crying for 
 money. The governor has given them all you sent, 
 and it hasn't gone half round. They haven't 
 started to set the scene, and the curtain's been 
 down over ten minutes already.' 
 
 ' Speak more quietly,' whispered Brewster. ' I 
 can do no good if I come round with empty hands.' 
 
 Miller had overheard the conversation, in spite 
 of the business-manager's efforts to reduce it to 
 whispers. He had risen, and stood in the centre of 
 the room with his hands in his waistcoat-pocket, as 
 if fumbling for something hidden there. 
 
 ' Come, Brewster,' he said, in a tone of quiet 
 determination, ' why don't you own up ? Why 
 don't you confess that you are deucedly in want of 
 money this instant '? It'll save a lot of bother.' 
 
 The situation was desperate. Money had to be 
 found at once, or there would be a scandal. The 
 whole town would ring with the new^s that the 
 Gharing Cross supers and workmen had struck 
 because they had not been paid. Pretended friends 
 would smile and presume to pity, and enemies 
 would sneer and rail, and say, ' I told you ; it was 
 bound to come.' 
 
A LEADING LADY 43 
 
 ' Well, and if I own up,' retorted the man of 
 business viciously, ' what then ? Have you a 
 hundred pounds about you ?' 
 
 For all answer Miller emptied his pockets and 
 his purse. Some thirty odd sovereigns rang on 
 Brewster's desk. Then he pulled out his pocket- 
 book, and laid half a dozen notes by the side of the 
 gold. 
 
 ' Take that to go on with,' he said. 
 
 Brewster gripped his hand and shook it heartily. 
 Then swiftly, without counting it, he gathered up 
 the money and rushed out. 
 
 The Charing Cross Theatre management was 
 saved. 
 
III. 
 
 While the fate of the Charing Cross management 
 was trembhng m the balance, a yomig lady sat m 
 the stalls of the theatre to whom the success or 
 failure of Mr. Herbert Winthrop Miller's negotia- 
 tions was a matter of great moment. When Mr. 
 Miller had enthusiastically stated that Miss Sybil 
 Collier was as clever as she was pretty, he had 
 meant to use not the comparative but the superla- 
 tive ; and if he had employed the superlative 
 degree, he would not have been greatly exaggerat- 
 ing. Miss Sybil Collier was, if not already a 
 beauty, certainly likely to become one of the 
 handsomest women of her time. She was very 
 young yet — one might have taken her to be 
 eighteen or nineteen, although more than twenty 
 summers had passed over her pretty head. 
 The stall next to her w^as vacant ; and the fact 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 45 
 
 that she was thus unchaperoned was taken ad- 
 vantage of by male and female scrutinizers, who, 
 durmg the prolonged interval ])etween the acts, 
 exammed Miss Collier's personality with that 
 unabashed rudeness of which fashionable theatre- 
 goers claim the privilege. It must be admitted 
 that the criticism was universally favourable— 
 and it could not well have been otherwise. Her 
 plush opera-cloak had fallen from her shoulders, 
 and afforded to the greedy eyes of her male sur- 
 roundings a hberal display of creamy translucent 
 skin, velvety as a peach. Her shoulders flashed 
 white against the black satin and jet of her dress. 
 Her face, saucy, smiling, and round, was lit up by 
 a pair of bright, coal-black eyes— not very large, 
 ])ut sparkling with a dreamy sheen. Her eyebrows 
 were as delicately pencilled as if they had been 
 painted, which they were not. Her thin lips, 
 slightly parted by a smile, showed a set of teeth 
 perfect and white as milk. Her black gloves, 
 which reached above the ell)ow, revealed enough 
 of the dimpled arms to make a sculptor en- 
 vious. Her hair was of that peculiar colour for 
 which no exact definition can be found ; it was 
 neither brown nor fair, and it glistened with the 
 
46 A LEADING LADY 
 
 reflections of the lights that shone upon it — auburn, 
 golden, and bronze. In figure she was slight ; 
 and as she reclined in her stall, most men argued 
 that she was likely to be tall. 
 
 Her eyes were wandering, as if unconsciously, all 
 over the theatre, unconcerned by the staring looks 
 that converged upon her, that followed her every 
 movement, and would have made any young lady 
 less accustomed to the public gaze decidedly un- 
 comfortable, if not miserable. Miss Sybil Collier, 
 however, had been inured to public and private 
 admiration ever since she had been a child. She 
 came from a theatrical family, and had been 
 carried on the stage when a mere baby by her 
 mother. She had played children's parts from the 
 time she was six years old, and ingenues and 
 chamber-maids from the day she was fourteen. 
 In provincial theatricals she was decidedly well 
 known. She had played every part in the legiti- 
 mate repertory that a young woman could play, 
 from the Prince of Wales in ' Eichard HI.,' to 
 Julia in the ' Hunchback ' and Pauline in the 
 ' Lady of Lyons.' She had undertaken them all 
 with very fair success. She had friends who were 
 enthusiastic about her eventual success on the 
 
A LEADING LADY 47 
 
 metropolitan stage, and who vowed that she had 
 only to appear to be able to repeat Cpesar's phrase, 
 with the well-known alteration, ' I came, I was 
 seen, and I conquered.' 
 
 Whatever her victories in the provinces had 
 been, in London theatricals she was a nonentity. 
 She had never played in the metropolis, and even a 
 man so well versed in the theatrical nomenclature 
 of his day as Mr. Edward Brewster, knew nothing 
 of Miss Sybil Collier's name or fame. The first act 
 of ' Much Ado about Nothing ' was j^layed, and 
 after an unusually prolonged interval, the second, 
 and the third, and the fourth, and Mr. Herbert 
 Winthrop Miller had not yet made his appearance 
 by the side of his fair protegee. Just as the curtain 
 had gone down at the end of the fourth act, he 
 appeared at the stall-door, hat in hand, and sliding, 
 more than walking, to his vacant stall by Miss 
 Collier's side, he said : 
 
 ' I have kept you waiting a long while, my dear 
 ^[iss Collier, but if I have kept 3'ou, it is because I 
 employed the time I was away to further your 
 interests. You won't scold me, will you ?' 
 
 ' I won't scold you, ^Ir. Miller, if you have got 
 me an engagement,' roi)licd the young enchantress. 
 
48 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ' A good one I mean, of course ; not an understudy, 
 or something of that kmd.' 
 
 ' What would you say,' retorted the young man, 
 his porcelain - blue eyes resting greedily on his 
 charming neighbour, ' what would you say to play- 
 ing Beatrice ?' 
 
 ' Beatrice in "Much Ado about Nothing"?' she 
 asked. 
 
 ' Yes, Beatrice in " Much Ado about Nothing." ' 
 
 * Where?' 
 
 ' Here, in this theatre.' 
 The young lady opened her eyes wide. 
 ' Now, Mr. Miller, you are teasing me. That is 
 too bad. I have not deserved it.' 
 
 * I asked what you would say to playing Beatrice 
 in this very theatre,' repeated the young man. 
 The defiant smile of victory on his face told Sybil 
 that he was most likely in earnest. 
 
 ' If you had obtained an engagement for me to 
 play Beatrice in this theatre,' she said, ' I should 
 tell you that you are very good and kind and nice, 
 and that I like you very much. But I don't 
 believe a word of it, Mr. Miller.' 
 
 ' There are people looking at us and listening to 
 us,' he whispered. ' Would you mind putting on 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 49 
 
 your cloak and follo\\ ing me '? I want you to come 
 upstairs ^Yith me to Mr. Brewster's office.' 
 
 As Sybil rose, her tall slender ligure, in its Hash- 
 ing black dress, standing out in all its grace amid 
 the deep red of the stalls and the pale tints of the 
 dresses of the ladies who surrounded her, a 
 murmur of admiration rose above the hubbub of 
 the general conversation, and Miller felt proud 
 indeed as the cavalier of so fair a lady. 
 
 He was not a very quick-witted man, but he was 
 possessed of a goodly fund of common-sense, and he 
 was a gentleman. Like most young men of means 
 who were flung into the vortex of life in town after 
 leaving Oxford, he had gone the pace for a year or 
 two, but had been wise enough to pull up sharp in 
 his career of wanton extravagance before his pros- 
 pects were materially injured. He could well 
 afford to spend a few thousands, or even more, to 
 gratify a feeling of friendship, or to further the 
 cause of anyljody whose success interested him ; 
 and in his negotiations with Brewster he had not 
 in any way gone beyond the means his hicome 
 afforded him. 
 
 In the case of Sybil Colher, however, he would 
 have been glad to stake far more than his present 
 
 4 
 
50 A LEADING LADY 
 
 risk. He had been introduced to the young actress 
 one night when she was playing at the Theatre 
 Eoyal, Manchester, and had fallen in love with her 
 on the spot. He had been accustomed to hear 
 actresses spoken about with but slight deference, 
 nearly as objects to be bought — the only question 
 being the price ; and he was roughly and, it must 
 be confessed, not unpleasantly awakened from that 
 delusion by finding that no money, no gift, no 
 llattery, no enticement he could ofier could Ijuy 
 Sybil or cause her to deviate even an inch from the 
 straight path which an honest woman follows. 
 But he was not easily bafHed. He was rather glad 
 that the prize he had set his heart upon was so 
 much more valuable than he had deemed it, and 
 from that moment forward he set to work in 
 homely, earnest fashion to woo Sybil Collier. 
 
 There are those who assert that in these days of 
 end-of-century depravity, no young man of good 
 family habitually associates with an actress unless 
 it ]je with an ol)ject at the bare mention of which 
 Mrs. Grundy would hold up her hands in pious 
 horror. They are mistaken. 
 
 Sybil had been brought up by a homely, kindly 
 mother, who had been left a widow early in her 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 51 
 
 twenties, and who had hickily been able to give her 
 daughter the comforts and education which children 
 of actors, who have to travel about the country, 
 seldom obtain. Sybil's earnings and those of her 
 mother rendered them independent of outside sup- 
 port, and although the good lady did not altogether 
 approve of young Miller's courtship, she knew her 
 daughter to be possessed of sufficient shrewdness 
 and sense of right to feel no uneasiness about her 
 conduct. She was firmly settled in her belief that 
 Sybil was destined to become one of the brightest 
 fixed stars of the theatrical firmament, and openly 
 expressed her opinion that a marriage, even coupled 
 with the advantages Mr. Miller could offer, would 
 rather detract than advance her daughter's pros- 
 pects. Money was very well in its way, Init money 
 and fame coml)ined were Ijetter. As for Miller, he 
 was, at the time of our present history, Sybil's 
 devoted slave, an anxious attendant upon her 
 slightest wish, glad if he could anticipate her most 
 trivial desire. He loved her, and he loved her 
 sincerely, and 2)ou.r Ic hoti motif, as our Gallic 
 neighbours have it. 
 
 Brewster was sitting by his desk in a far happier 
 mood than but a short while ago, and, accustomed 
 
52 A LEADING LADY 
 
 as he was to see some of the handsomest ^Yomen of 
 the day parade for his approval, he could not 
 withhold a faint cry of pleasurable surprise as 
 Sybil entered his room. 
 
 ' So that is the young lady ?' he said, his little 
 eyes travelling over Sybil from her wavy hair to 
 her tiny shoes. ' She will do as far as looks go. 
 Watson will soon find out what she can do on the 
 stage. I'll take you round to him, and he will see 
 you the moment the curtain is down. That's the 
 way we settle this kind of business,' he added, ex- 
 hibiting to Miller two small sheets of paper. 
 ' That will put an end to all the difficulty, and 
 Miss Collier will have a clear start. Look at them, 
 read them, my boy !' 
 
 He handed the papers to Miller. 
 
 ' The run of " Much Ado about Nothing " at this 
 theatre,' one of them ran, ' will end on Saturday, 
 November 29 next, when all engagements for the 
 run of the piece will cease and determine.' 
 
 * The autumn season at this theatre,' stated the 
 other, ' will end on Saturday, November 29 next, 
 when all engagements for the season, or at the 
 usual notice, and all engagements of workmen, 
 employes, and all contracts for advertisements, will 
 
A LEADING LADY 53 
 
 cease and determine. All persons desiring re- 
 engagements or renewals of contracts are requested 
 to apply to Mr. Brewster.' 
 
 ' I shall he very sorry indeed if anybody is 
 deprived of employment on my account,' said 
 Sybil, who had l)een glancing over Miller's 
 shoulder. ' In fact, I should not care to enter a 
 theatre under such circumstances.' 
 
 ' My dear Miss Collier,' remonstrated Brewster, 
 ' don't trouble your pretty head about that. No- 
 body will be hurt on your account. You can 
 make your mind easy on that subject. They will 
 suffer simply for their own shortcomings.' 
 
 He w^as a martinet, and he did not for a second 
 admit that there was a shadow of right on the side 
 of the men who had clamoured, with unreasonable 
 vehemence, and at an unreasonable time, it is true, 
 for that which w^as justly due to them. He con- 
 sidered that these people ought to be grateful to 
 the Charing Cross management for being employed 
 at all in these hard times — even at the diminutive 
 wage which most of them received. Their con- 
 duct was worse than rebellious ; it was un- 
 grateful. 
 
 And in the main there was a spice of salutary 
 
54 A LEADING LADY 
 
 cautiousness in his act. Spite and malice have, 
 over and over again, found dangerous vents in 
 theatres. The discharge of a friend, of a brother, 
 of a sweetheart, has been known — though not 
 always proved — to be the initial cause of a heavy 
 weight being dropped — by accident, of course — 
 from the liies, of guide-lines and ropes being cut, of 
 traps being left unsecured, of bridges being left 
 treacherously open, and of a score of kinds of like 
 contemptible, and sometimes homicidal, revenges. 
 There is a phrase known to and used among 
 actors who certainly, from an educational stand- 
 point, ought to be removed from the petty mean- 
 ness which sometimes influences the super or 
 carpenter. It is ' burking his or her ])usiness,' 
 and it consists in the malicious endeavours to 
 injure the reputation or position in the theatre of 
 an actor or actress by not finishing the sentences 
 according to the text, by omitting them or altering 
 them or the business of the stage in such a way 
 that the reply is rendered ineffective, and then 
 pretending by dumb movements, which the audience 
 would notice, that the injured party is the person 
 at fault. Great actors and actresses, men and 
 w^omen of genius, have been known to stoop to 
 
A LEADING LADY 55 
 
 such conduct. Edward Brewster was, therefore, 
 perhaps right wdien, on the introduction of a new 
 candidate for fame and favour, he said that he 
 meant to give her ' a clear start.' 
 
 ' Come with me, Miss ColHer,' he said smihngly, 
 ' and you shall be shown into a London manager's 
 dressing-room. You are not afraid, I suppose ?' 
 
 ' Not a little wee bit,' she answered archly. 
 ' Not in the least, I assure you.' 
 
 She tripped out into the passage, followed l)y the 
 two men. 
 
 Brewster with his key opened the pass- door, and 
 they descended to the stage level by one of those 
 dingy ill-lit staircases that are so frequently found 
 on the actors' side of the best-managed of London 
 theatres. The supers and workmen were standing 
 about in little knots discussing in undertones the 
 altered state of affairs, and wondering whence had 
 come the money which had been distril)uted among 
 them. All signs of insul)ordination had disap- 
 peared. ' The ghost had walked,' and they had 
 l)een promised a settlement of all further claims on 
 the morrow. The only sentiment predominant 
 among them now was the fear that tlieir rougli 
 and disorderly manner of attempting to onf(^i'ce 
 
56 A LEADING LADY 
 
 payment might lead to the loss of then* employ- 
 ment. They made Avay respectfully for Sybil and 
 the two gentlemen, staring with good - natnred, 
 humble admiration at the lady. They one and 
 all voted her ' a ripper,' ' a stunner,' and the 
 like. 
 
 Little Masters, his eyes twinkling again with 
 some of their wonted lustre, smiling his broadest, 
 and rubbing his hands in a glee of devoted thank- 
 fulness that the impending catastrophe had been 
 averted, stood at the dressing-room door bowing 
 with a stagey courtliness which would have done 
 credit to a burlesque comedian. 
 
 ' Please to walk in,' he said, holding aside the 
 velvet curtains that were draped behind the door ; 
 * Mr. Watson will be here nearly immediately.' 
 
 Sybil seated herself in a cosy armchair, and with 
 an admiring gaze contemplated the signs of comfort 
 and of luxury with which the room abounded. 
 She compared in her mind this little palace of a 
 dressing-room with the dingy cells to which actors 
 and actresses are relegated in the provinces — tiny 
 rooms mostly, where chill and ghastly draughts 
 take the place of ventilation, where the dust of 
 ages is to be found in the cracks and corners of 
 
A LEADING LADY 57 
 
 l)enches, tallies, and chairs ; and she argued to 
 herself tliat London artistes were indeed the 
 favourites of Fortune if this sumptuous apartment 
 were a criterion of the accommodation provided 
 for them. 
 
 The first impression of the surroundings being 
 favourable, she was, in her enthusiastic little heart, 
 prepared to admire the owner of the place at 
 sight. 
 
 Mr. Randolph Watson did not keep his visitors 
 long in waiting. He entered the room radiant in 
 the lordly mediaeval garb of Benedick, and, with 
 his big expressive eyes beaming with instant and 
 spontaneous appreciation and admiration, he strode 
 to where Miss Collier sat, and, holding out his 
 hand, said in his cheeriest tone : 
 
 ' I am glad to see you. Miss Collier. I have 
 heard a great deal a])0ut you, and now that I have 
 seen you I feel sure that the praise which has 
 been l)estowed upon you is well deserved.' 
 
 As a matter of fact he had, before that evening, 
 known no more about Miss Collier than her name ; 
 but since Brewster had informed him of the negotia- 
 tions which he was carrying on with Miller, he had 
 used the intervening time in making inquiries 
 
58 A LEADING LADY 
 
 among his company about Miss Collier's talents and 
 position in the profession. The report had proved 
 a favourable one, and Mr. Eandolph Watson did 
 not think it \Yrong to exaggerate by a little untruth 
 and flattery his kno^Yledge of the young lady's 
 attractions. 
 
 Having thus received Miss Collier ^Yith open 
 arms, so to say, he turned to Miller and shook his 
 hand with an effusive heartiness. 
 
 ' Yon are always welcome. Miller,' he said, 'you 
 know that ; and when you bring so attractive a 
 person as Miss Collier, you are doubly so. Brew- 
 ster has told me all about your conversation this 
 evening, and I thoroughly approve all that he has 
 done. We shall have to make a London actress of 
 you, Miss Collier, will we not ? We shall get up a 
 new piece, and if everything I have been told al)Out 
 you is true, the part you will play will give you 
 every chance of making a reputation.' 
 
 Poor Sybil was taken quite aback by the exuber- 
 ance of the welcome which she had received. There 
 was surely not another manager in London as nice 
 as Mr. Eandolph Watson — why, in all England ! 
 Most of the managers she had known were gruff 
 disciplinarians, and even the kindliest among them 
 
A LEADING LADY 59 
 
 had never spoken so nicely to her, had never 
 addressed her hi such flattering terms as Mr. 
 Watson. She did not wonder now that he was 
 so successful as an actor. How pleasant it must 
 he to act with such a man ! Her heart thumped 
 against her rihs in a delightful riot at the expecta- 
 tion of the agreeahle excitement in store for her, 
 and her cheeks flushed with a hot flood as she vainly 
 endeavoured to find in her vocabulary an expression 
 of thanks. She could only stammer a few in- 
 coherent words ; her heart was too full. 
 
 Miller stood by her side, wondering whether this 
 mute and visible expression of delight was due 
 simply to the announcement of the l)ig part which 
 would be got ready for her. He had to confess to 
 himself that he was a trifle jealous — ' most un- 
 reasonably jealous,' he added to himself; but it 
 annoyed him to see his lady-love take such plea- 
 sure in AVatson's manner and address. 
 
 ' This is all nonsense !' he said to himself. ' I 
 shall have to get accustomed to it, that's all.' 
 
 He found it very difficult, however, for the moment, 
 at any rate, to school himself even to the first rudi- 
 ments of callousness as far as tlu; intercourse 
 between Svl)il and Watson was conccnied. He 
 
6o A LEADING LADY 
 
 knew the manager's reputation as that of a lad}^- 
 killer. Bevies of fair dames were supposed to be 
 kneeling at his feet in perpetual adoration, and he 
 was afraid lest his Sj^bil might fall a victim to the 
 actor-manager's blandishments. He was glad when 
 the brief interview was over, and an appointment 
 was made for Miss Collier and himself to come to 
 the theatre on the morrow to conclude the negotia- 
 tions in a business-like and legal form. 
 
 * That's a devilishly handsome girl !' said Watson 
 to his partner and ])usiness-manager when the pair 
 had left his room. ' I think I shall be able to 
 mould her to suit my purpose.' 
 
 ' Don't you mould her too much to suit your 
 purpose,' said Brewster rather pointedly. ' That 
 man Miller is worth gold to us, and the girl is 
 engaged to be married to him.' 
 
 ' I don't know what you are talking about, 
 Brewster !' retorted the comedian. ' You are 
 always speaking in riddles.' 
 
 ' Oh, of course I am !' answered Brewster. ' You 
 don't understand me ? Well, I will speak plainly. 
 Try to get a lot of business and as little pleasure as 
 possible out of Miss Collier's engagement. It will 
 be far more profitable to both of us.' 
 
A LEA DISC LADY 6i 
 
 * All right, old man,' replied AVatson. ' To hear 
 you talk one would think me a Lothario.' 
 
 Notwithstanding this strenuous assertion, Watson 
 sat in his chair for some little time after his 
 business-manager had left his room, making no 
 attempt to divest himself of his stage-dress, smiling 
 complacently, and rubbing his hands on his knees 
 in chuckling glee. 
 
 ' She's a very nice girl,' he said to himself — ' a 
 very nice girl. I wonder whether she is destined 
 to adorn a niche in my gallery of beauties. Who 
 knows ? Nobody can tell. That Miller is an ass ; 
 he is not worth his luck, not by a long shot.' 
 
 Miss Sybil, on the other hand, was nearly 
 taciturn during the earlier portion of the long ride 
 to Clapham, where she lived with her mother. 
 Miller, as usual, escorted her. 
 
 ' I hope you are pleased with what I have done ?' 
 he said on a sudden. 
 
 ' Pleased ?' she replied. ' Of course I am. 
 Pleased and grateful.' 
 
 In spite of the warmth of the assertion, there 
 was less heartiness in it, less of reflective love, 
 than she had been accustomed to bestow upon 
 him. She had given him her hand as a token of 
 
62 A LEADING LADY 
 
 gratitude, but the pressure of her fingers upon his 
 was more dainty than usual. 
 
 He noticed it, and half regretted that he had 
 undertaken the night's business. 
 
 ' Kandolph Watson is a very nice man ?' he said, 
 trying to feel his way by the suggestion. 
 
 ' Very nice.' 
 
 ' I am told that he is a great favourite with the 
 fair sex.' 
 
 ' Indeed !' 
 
 * I have no doubt you think him a very hand- 
 some man ?' 
 
 ' He is good-looking, certainly.' 
 
 ' He is lucky. I was born ugly, and will remain 
 ugly for the rest of my days.' 
 
 ' Don't say that, my dear,' she retorted softly. 
 ' You are good-looking enough for me. And you 
 are good, and honest, and kind ; that is very, very 
 much better.' 
 
 ' If I were only sure that you would always think 
 so ! But I am nearly afraid that when you get 
 thrown daily in Watson's way you will think more 
 of him and less of me.' 
 
 ' What a great silly you are, my dear !' she 
 replied with a merry, silvery laugh. ' You are 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 63 
 
 positively jccilous already. What \yill you say 
 when I am acting Juliet to his liomeo ?' 
 
 He had not thought of that. When he entered 
 upon his negotiations witli Brewster he had only 
 one object in his mind : the professional advance- 
 ment of the girl he loved. Now he remembered 
 on a sudden that the end could not be attained 
 without her being thrown in contact with one at 
 least of the jcioics pycnufrs or leading men of 
 London theatres ; and, to his mind, they were all 
 alike. He thought them all ecpuilly dangerous to 
 his peace and happiness. But it had to Ije done. 
 It had to be gone through. 
 
 ' I have no doubt I shall get accustomed to it 
 by-and-by,' he sighed ; ' l;ut it will require practice. 
 Don't think Randolph Watson too handsome. And 
 when you act with him, don't — don't act too — too 
 heartily. Promise me.' 
 
 ' Why, it will be only acting — only make believe,' 
 she answered blithely. ' You've often seen me act 
 with men, and you never mentioned that sort of 
 thing before.' 
 
 ' Yes,' he rejoined, running his forefingers over 
 the back of his head in dou])tful musing, * ])ut they 
 were not Bandolph Watsons.' 
 
64 A LEADING LADY 
 
 The phrase rang m the girl's ears long after it 
 was spoken. ' They were not Eandolph Watsons.' 
 
 ' Yes/ she thought, ' it must be very pleasant 
 indeed to act with Mr. Watson.' 
 
 But she kept her thoughts to herself. 
 
IV. 
 
 The hall-passage facing the Royal Channg Cross 
 stage-door was, on the morning following this first 
 evening of our history, the scene of much wailing, 
 mourning, and gnashing of teeth. Crowds of poorly- 
 dressed men were accusing one another of having, 
 by ill-advised and precipitate pressure, hastened 
 their own downfall. The Charing Cross manage- 
 ment was, according to all evidence, as solvent as 
 ever. Mr. Watson's difficulties had been only tem- 
 porary, and they who had shown so little confidence 
 in their manager could not expect the latter to 
 treat them with consideration. They were in mid- 
 November. Most, if not nearly all, of the winter 
 engagements were made, and here they would most 
 likely be thrown out of employment just when they 
 needed it most. A chill Christmas stared them in 
 the face. P)rf'wstcr's words, ' I'll remember this 
 
 5 
 
66 A LEADING LADY 
 
 when the next piece comes !' had been repeated, 
 and they knew the ponderous manager well enough 
 to expect little mercy from him. 
 
 Both Watson and Brewster came to the theatre 
 early next morning. Miller had, on reaching home, 
 drawn an open cheque for a thousand pounds, and 
 had posted it at once. The cheque had been cashed 
 the moment the bank opened, and the business- 
 manager of the Charing Cross Theatre sat in his 
 office behind a goodly array of little piles of golden 
 sovereigns and of paper-bags containing five pounds' 
 worth of silver each. The display was intentional, 
 and had its intended effect. Before eleven o'clock 
 had struck the tone of creditors and clamouring 
 employes was changed. Men who had journeyed 
 from their homes to the theatre fiercely intent to 
 get what was due to them, changed their minds on 
 a sudden, and either did not at all apply for payment, 
 or when they were called to the treasury evinced 
 an astonishing desire to remain the management's 
 creditors for an indefinite period. Brewster, how- 
 ever, was inflexible. Everybody who had asked for 
 money had to have it and to go. To all applica- 
 tions for renewal of engagement or contract he 
 gave the uniform reply, ' I will see when the time 
 
A LEADING LADY 67 
 
 comes. It all depends upon circumstances. At 
 present I have nothing to offer.' 
 
 There were, of course, some who had been faith- 
 ful found among the faithless — poor Carter, the 
 super-master, for instance ; little Masters, who 
 would have gone to the end of the world for his 
 employer, even if he had been compelled to starve 
 on the road ; Wells, the master-carpenter, who had 
 been sorely injured in the attempt to quell the 
 disturbance of the previous night; and others. 
 With them reticence was unnecessary ; and Wells 
 especially had to be told about the preparations he 
 would be required to make for the next piece. It 
 soon became known in consequence that the new 
 production would be got up on a grand scale ; that 
 it was a spectacular piece, in which large numbers 
 of men and women would be employed, and the 
 remorse al)out the rash conduct of the previous 
 evening was all the more poignant. 
 
 There was one person who felt keenly, more 
 keenly perhaps than she cared to acknowledge even 
 to herself, her regret that she had not shown a 
 little more forbearance. Miss Northcote was a 
 leading lady who had a reputation of being un- 
 lucky. She was a noble actress, and a handsome 
 
68 A LEADING LADY 
 
 woman, though past the prime, but somehow or 
 other she seldom, if ever, played in a successful 
 piece. Theatrical managers are a superstitious 
 class, and most of them fought shy of Miss North- 
 cote, her glorious acting and her fine presence not- 
 withstanding. The result was that the lady was, 
 on the average, three months in an engagement and 
 nine months out ; and she knew only too well that, 
 when they heard of the closing of the Charing 
 Cross season, people would say, ' What else could 
 you expect with that Miss Jonah in the show?' 
 She might be months perhaps without finding 
 another engagement, and years without getting the 
 salary at which she was then retained. 
 
 When Miss Northcote called at the theatre in the 
 morning she was in a state of doubts and fears 
 which made her heart beat feverishly, and her 
 nerves tingle with excitement. She had seen the 
 house full of comparatively enthusiastic audiences, 
 who applauded her vociferously, and kind friends 
 had told her that whatever success was made was 
 due to her acting. Poor vain woman ! she had 
 believed these silly, heartless flatteries, and had 
 thought herself indispensable ; she had been 
 peremptory, and nearly rude. Her threat had 
 
A LEADING LADY 69 
 
 rel^ouiided upon her like a boomerang, and «lie 
 felt sure that there was little hope of her name 
 appearing;- on the next Charing Cross bill. 
 
 She did not go to the business-office, but directed 
 her steps to Mr. Watson's private office, which was 
 also situated on the dress-circle level. Masters 
 was on guard at the door, and barred the way. 
 
 ' Mr. Watson's engaged, please. Miss Northcote,' 
 he said, with his habitual grin ; ' and I'm not to 
 disturb him on any account.' 
 
 'But surely that order does not apply to me!' 
 retorted the lady, her eyes flashing with indigna- 
 tion, whilst she drew herself up proudly. 
 
 ' I've no orders to make any exception,' answered 
 the little man, smiling as blandly as ever ; ' I'm 
 very sorry — I am, indeed I am — but governor's 
 orders, you know, and I can't help it.' 
 
 ' And how long will Mr. Watson be engaged ?' 
 asked Miss Northcote despairingly. 
 
 ' I don't know,' was the ready reply ; ' but if you 
 will go to Mr. Brewster, Miss Northcote, he'll tell 
 you more than I can.' 
 
 That was just what she did not wish to do, and 
 what she had been trying to avoid. She hated 
 Brewster, and the latter, to do him justice, made 
 
70 A LEADING LADY 
 
 no attempt to conceal his dislike for her. She had 
 been engaged in defiance of the business-manager's 
 advice by Watson, who said he wanted an actress, 
 and not a doll, to play with him, and the business- 
 manager laid all the misfortunes of the theatre to 
 the account of her supposed Jonahesque attributes. 
 
 She felt faint, and her heart ached as she entered 
 Brewster's office. 
 
 The big man was sitting at his desk engaged in 
 rapidly counting his money, and placing various 
 sums in little envelopes, which he marked with 
 divers names. He did not even look up from his 
 work. 
 
 ' I've come, Mr. Brewster ' said the actress. 
 
 ' Oh, I know what you've come for,' interrupted 
 Brewster. ' You've come for your money. Miss 
 Northcote. Here it is. Good-morning.' 
 
 He handed her the little packet, and went on 
 again immediately wdth his work. 
 
 She stood still for a moment's space with the 
 money between her gloved lingers, turning it over 
 and over again in a stony rage at being treated in 
 so uncouth a fashion. She knew, however, that 
 nothing was to be gained by resenting the affront, 
 and restrained herself. 
 
A LEADING LADY 71 
 
 ' Does the notice in the hall apply to me, Mr. 
 Brewster ?' she asked. 
 
 He raised his head Init slightly. 
 
 'Of course it does, Miss Northcote,' he replied. 
 
 ' You are going to have another leading lady ?' 
 
 ' Yes, Miss Northcote.' 
 
 ' Is it an indiscretion to ask the name of the 
 lady ?' 
 
 ' None whatever. Miss Sybil Collier will be Mr. 
 Watson's next leading lady.' 
 
 ' Sybil Collier !' fumed the actress, utterly for- 
 getting herself under the shock of her surprise. 
 ' A chit of a girl who has never acted in London in 
 her life ! I imagined something of the kind was 
 going to be done when Mr. Watson was making 
 such anxious inquiries about her last night.' 
 
 Brewster had listened to her with a vacant 
 smile. 
 
 ' Have you anything else to say. Miss North- 
 cote '?' he asked ; ' for if you have, I will wait 
 until you have linished before I go on with my 
 work.' 
 
 The lady stalked from the room like a defied 
 empress, in a seething silence. 
 
 That chit of a girl had supplanted her, had 
 
72 A LEADING LADY 
 
 robbed her of her means of liveHhood, of her work, 
 of her nightly applause. That chit of a girl should 
 be made to feel the enormity of her crime. 
 
 Women like Mary Northcote never threaten 
 except in their own hearts, and they are all the 
 more dangerous. 
 
 Whilst Miss Northcote strode from the theatre in 
 an unreasoning and unreasonable rage with her 
 rival, her manager, and if the whole truth be told, 
 with herself for not having been more pliable, the 
 principal object of this sudden hatred was ushered 
 by the benignly affable Masters into the room upon 
 the threshold of which he had stood in faithful 
 guard against the leading lady who was so soon to 
 be deposed. 
 
 Miller had accompanied her, but Brewster, sum- 
 moned into his partner's sanctum by a message 
 through a speaking-tube, pounced upon him like a 
 hungry hawk, and carried the lovelorn swain, 
 much against the latter' s inclination, to his own 
 office. 
 
 ' A theatre combines art and business,' he said. 
 ' Watson has charge of the art department, and I 
 look after the money ; and I assure you that 
 Watson has the more pleasant task. There are all 
 
A LEADING LADY 73 
 
 the particulars to settle, and lots of other things to 
 do — and then we shall have to go to Barney, 
 Wilkinson, and Southern to draw up the agree- 
 ment.' 
 
 ' And how long do you think you will keep me ?' 
 asked Miller, seeing Sybil comfortably installed in 
 a huge Queen Anne armchair. ' Miss Collier will 
 get tired of waiting for me, you know.' 
 
 ' Oh, don't trouble yourself about me,' replied 
 the fair one gaily ; ' I have many things to occupy 
 me when I leave here. But, if you like, you may 
 get tickets for the Lyceum, and fetch me from 
 home in time for dinner.' 
 
 He hardly knew whether to be thankful or not, 
 but he remembered the old adage about small 
 favours. 
 
 ' Thank you,' he said, with a look so full of 
 devotion that it made the two hardened men about 
 town smile ; ' I will come and fetch you. We will 
 dine at the Burlington, and I will buy a box at the 
 Lyceum.' 
 
 ' Now that the golden idol has departed,' said 
 Watson, with a satirical smile, when Brewster and 
 Miller had left, ' we may 1)0 allowed to think about 
 the poor forgotten drama '?' 
 
74 A LEADING LADY 
 
 'Don't call Mr. Miller a golden idol, Mr. 
 Watson !' exclaimed Sybil, pursing her lips in a 
 pretty pretended pout ; ' I am sure he is nothing of 
 the kind.' 
 
 ' He is your idol, is he not ?' retorted the manager 
 laughingly ; ' and he is rich enough to be golden. 
 There is no harm in that comparison — come now, 
 Miss Collier.' 
 
 ' Since Mr. Miller is gone,' ans^Yered the lady 
 rather stiffly, ' perhaps, as you say, it will be better 
 to think about the drama, Mr. Watson. I am on 
 thorns, you know. I don't mind telling you I have 
 not slept a wink all night thinking of it. My part 
 is a good part — a really good one ?' 
 
 ' It is the leading lady's part of the piece, and 
 the only leading lady's part,' he replied. ' I have 
 heard a great deal about 3'Our acting, but would 
 you mind showing me a little specimen. You have 
 played Juliet, of course ?' 
 
 ' I have, many times.' 
 
 ' Would you run through the Chamber scene 
 with me ?' 
 
 ' The scene " Wilt thou be gone? It is not yet 
 near day"?' 
 
 ' The same.' 
 
A LEADING LADY 75 
 
 ' Where ?' 
 
 ' Here — now.' 
 
 ' I will try. You must not judge me too harshly, 
 Mr. Watson. It will not be as at night, you 
 know.' 
 
 'Oh, I shall be able to tell. Let us have our 
 substitute properties. This armchair is the open 
 window, and the seat of the chair the balcony. I 
 will wedge it in between this table and the bureau, 
 so that it can't tumble over, else Eomeo might 
 come to grief. Are you ready ?' 
 
 ' Quite.' 
 
 She commenced a little coldly the beautiful 
 scene. Watson, if not the ideal Eomeo of Shake- 
 speare, was an ideal love-maker of the modern 
 stage, and his declamation was impassionate and 
 faultless. Whether it was the excitement of the 
 task, or her anxiety to give a pleasing test of her 
 power, or genius forgetting its surroundings, or the 
 fact that Watson's arm about her waist gave rise 
 to an intoxicating sensation, she soon so warmed to 
 her work that she thrilled even the experienced 
 and stage-tried actor. When Eomeo cried : 
 
 ' And trust me, love, in my eye so do you. 
 Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu I' 
 
76 A LEADING LADY 
 
 she actually offered her cheek to be kissed. The 
 moment afterwards she remembered what she had 
 done, and blushed crimson. 
 
 ' I beg your pardon, Mr. Watson,' she pleaded ; 
 ' I forgot that I was acting.' 
 
 ' I wish it had not been acting,' said the manager, 
 with a meaning smile. ' What a lucky dog that 
 Miller is !' and he gently pressed the dainty white 
 lingers he held in his hand. 
 
 His big eyes glowed with a far more passionate 
 lustre than he had shown during the rehearsal of 
 the scene. Her looks were fixed to the ground as 
 in a guilty remembrance, and she slowly raised 
 them and met his gaze. It shot through her and 
 made her tremble — whether with resentment of the 
 audacity, with anger, or with pleasure, she knew 
 not. She blushed an even deeper red than before, 
 and, softly withdrawing her hand, breathed a deep 
 siofh. 
 
Y. 
 
 When Syl)il Collier left the manager's private office 
 that morning, a chiding conscience smote her. She 
 accused herself of having been unfaithful — in 
 thought, at least — to the man who loved her so 
 much, who was staking a large sum for her profes- 
 sional advancement, whom she had allowed to hope 
 that one day he would be her husband. With 
 nearly the self-same heartbeat she rebelled against 
 the self-accusation. What wrong had she done ? 
 What crime was there in l)eing pleased to act 
 Juliet with so magnificent a Romeo ? She made a 
 desperate effort to throw dust hito her own eyes. 
 ' It is all art,' she said to herself ; ' all acting.' 
 ]]ut the rebuking voice prompted a sonorous, ])ell- 
 like 'No !' deep and convincing. ' Take care, take 
 care !' cried the same voice. ' You lind too nuicli 
 pleasure in the man's society already ; from that to 
 love there is but a step.' 
 
78 A LEADING LADY 
 
 Sybil had been brought up among professionals 
 in the provinces where lots of girls marry young 
 men who act in the same company with them, and 
 are extremely happy. The story of Eandolph 
 Watson's ' gallery of beauties ' had not reached her 
 ears. At the same time she was discerning enough, 
 when the flush of the excitement was over, to feel a 
 slow indignation at Watson's assurance in making 
 underhand love to her during their very first inter- 
 view. He must have a very poor opinion of her, 
 must deem her conquest easy, she thought, and her 
 annoyance hissed and bubbled, and made her 
 fingers twitch nervously. She would show him 
 that he was mistaken, and in future she would be 
 on her guard. She would armour herself in the 
 strictest propriety, and use courteous decorum as a 
 shield. 
 
 It must be confessed that there was very little of 
 Herbert Miller in Sybil's self-communion that 
 turned the scale against Randolph Watson. And 
 yet she liked her devoted swain — she liked him 
 very much. At times she thought she loved him, 
 and she was always so blithely affectionate, so 
 coyly radiant, and so warmly confiding, that the 
 poor man would have staked his soul's salvation on 
 
A LEADING LADY 79 
 
 her love for him. He had proved her to be a good 
 girl, and he firmly believed her to be a true one. 
 The little twinges of jealousy stung and l)it now 
 and then like attacks of a mental gout, and his 
 heart swelled with its own pain on those shortlived 
 occasions. He was a sensible fellow withal, and 
 vowed himself a fool for his pains, ])ut though he 
 struggled hard, the demon was not to be fought 
 down altogether. 
 
 He noticed, with feelings of unalloyed pleasure, 
 that Sybil's bubbling enthusiasm had quite sub- 
 sided when she next met Randolph Watson. She 
 was evidently intent to give the actor-manager no 
 encouragement ; and, more than that, he fancied 
 that she meant to show to him that she was 
 marble to the Charing Cross Romeo's personal 
 attractions. 
 
 ' She has taken my words to heart, the dear 
 good girl,' he said to himself ; ' heaven bless her ! 
 "What a wretcli 1 was to doul)t lier even for a 
 moment !' 
 
 The manuscript of the new piece had been in 
 Watson's possession for some time, but want of 
 capital had prevented him from preparing it for 
 production. He had l)een obliged to close his 
 
So A LEADING LADY 
 
 carpenters' and property-makers' shops ; in the 
 wardrobe half a dozen sewmg-machmes ^Yere 
 standing idle ; he had discharged his scenic artist ; 
 every penny that ^Yas not required for the im- 
 mediate purposes of the nightly performance was 
 ruthlessly scratched out of the pay-sheet. 
 
 But all this was changed, and noise and activity 
 took the place of sombre silence. A dozen men 
 were hammering and sawing on the stage, and 
 dou])le as many more made the workshops of 
 the theatre a Babel of sound. Two artists and 
 their assistants kept four painting-frames going 
 morning, noon, and night, and the wardrobe looked 
 like a dressmaker's workroom in the height of the 
 season. Other scene-painters were at work in their 
 own studios ; costumiers were busy, and orders had 
 been flashed even as far as Paris for gorgeous 
 accessories. 
 
 The remaining twelve nights of ' Much Ado 
 about Nothing ' were soon over, and rehearsals of 
 the new piece commenced in real earnest. The 
 stage-door was then besieged by crowds of dis- 
 charged supers, carpenters, workmen, musicians, 
 chorus men and women, and actors who had to 
 stand by and see new faces pass the gate guarded 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 8i 
 
 by the stage Cerljerus whilst they were shut out 
 into the fog and drizzle, and slush and cold, of the 
 early December. A man who has not the where- 
 withal to buy food for himself and his family is not 
 likely to be guided by sound reasoning, and under 
 such circumstances even men of honest instincts 
 become dulled in their appreciation of right and 
 wrong. Sybil Collier was the figure-head of the 
 new coalition which had ousted them from their 
 employment, and when a lady of position in the 
 profession like Miss Northcote went so far as to say 
 openly at the stage-door that it was ' a shame that 
 through Miss Collier's engagement a lot of hard- 
 working people should be turned into the street at 
 this biting time of the year,' they were not slow in 
 proving to their own misguided minds that, instead 
 of l)eing themselves offenders who had l)een 
 punished for their own misl)ehaviour, they were 
 bitterly and disgracefully offended against. Miss 
 Collier of course had her own friends and friends' 
 friends to look after, they argued, and she was 
 doing so relentlessly and regardlessly of the havoc 
 she wrought among tlio old hands. It was all Miss 
 Collier's fault ; Miss Northcote had said so, and 
 that was surely a sufticient proof. 
 
 6 
 
82 A LEADING LADY 
 
 From the tiny ball of snow \Yhich rolls do^Yn the 
 Alpme incline gro\YS the destructive avalanche. 
 From the idle and spiteful tittle-tattle, from the 
 malicious assertion of an embittered ^Yoman, gre^v 
 a conspiracy \Yhich boded ill to Sybil Collier's 
 success. There are ahYays men to be found among 
 all classes of the community ^Yho ^Yill stoop to 
 mean actions, and ^Yho \Yill not recoil from stabbing 
 in the dark ; and theatrical supers, carpenters, and 
 emplo^'es are not free from the contamination of 
 such black sheep. 
 
 Little Masters, his confidential position ^Yitll the 
 manager not\Yithstanding, ^Yas a favourite ^Yitll the 
 men all round, and he ^Yas the first to learn that 
 there ^Yas something \Yrong ^Yitll the intentions of 
 the discharged men. What they meant to do he 
 \Yas as yet unable to tell, but one morning he 
 stepped to his employer on the stage in a state of 
 rare excitement. His fists weve clenched and his 
 teeth hard set ^Yhile he ^Yaited for an opportunity 
 to address the manager. 
 
 ' Why, good gracious ! what's the matter with you, 
 Masters?' exclaimed the latter, when he saw^ the 
 changed countenance of his usually so humorous 
 servant. ' One would think you had seen a bogey.' 
 
A LEADING LADY 83 
 
 ' I've n't seen a bogey, governor,' replied the 
 little man, ' but I've found out that the men you 
 have given the sack to are going to make it ^Yarm 
 for you and for Miss Collier.' 
 
 ' For me ?' retorted the comedian with a dry 
 smile. ' They are welcome to all they can do to 
 me. I know how to take care of myself. But 
 what has Miss Collier done to them ?' 
 
 ' I can't guess yet, governor,' answered the 
 dresser ; ' l)ut I know that Miss Northcote has 
 been speaking to them and giving them money, 
 and has been putting them up to all sorts of 
 dodges.' 
 
 ' Miss Northcote had ])etter beware of what she's 
 doing,' said Watson with a quiet determination. 
 ' It will 1)0 the worse for her if I find out that 
 she's attempting to interfere with my conduct of 
 my theatre.' 
 
 ' I don't know how^ far she's in it, Mr. Watson,' 
 the little round-faced man went on, ' but I'm sure 
 that they mean to goose Miss Collier on the first 
 night.' 
 
 ' We will see to that,' answered the comedian. 
 'Tliaiilv you for having warned me. iJon't let 
 Miss Colher know anything about this, else she 
 
 G-2 
 
84 A LEADING LADY 
 
 might be frightened. Eun up and tell Brewster ; 
 he'll know what to do.' 
 
 His outward assurance notwithstanding, the 
 manager felt by no means at ease in his mind 
 about the projects wdiich were being fostered 
 against him and his leading lady. He knew only 
 too well that although an established favourite 
 could w^ell afford to laugh at any malicious com- 
 bination, a new actress and a piece, the success of 
 wdiich might be trembling in the balance, were 
 likely to be sent headlong into the abyss of failure 
 by a hiss that interrupted a risky scene. The 
 knowledge alone that there were men in the theatre 
 determined to be revenged upon her for imaginary 
 wrongs would unnerve a sensitive actress. Ordinary 
 stage-fright would be as nothing to the hard, gnaw- 
 ing fear, the blood-chilling dread, of the disapproval 
 that might spring upon her unawares at the moment 
 when she thought she least deserved it. It would 
 be no use to be armed wdth authority ; it W'Ould be 
 useless to eject the dastardly fellows who had come 
 on purpose to hiss a defenceless woman. The mis- 
 chief would be done ; it would be too late. The 
 originators of the conspiracy would have to be 
 found and be met wdth their own weapons. They 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 85 
 
 would either have to be frightened into sul)mission, 
 or they would have to be kept in check and watched 
 by a force of men. Bullies are notoriously cowards, 
 and half a dozen determined men have, many 
 times in the annals of London managements, 
 cowed three times their number of malicious 
 enemies. The existence of such conspiracies has 
 been doubted, and even denied, l)y distinguished, 
 appreciative, and experienced writers on the press. 
 Theatrical managers know of them to their cost, 
 and many an acting-manager could give a list of 
 names of idle and worthless fellows who have over 
 and over again wilfully, maliciously, and deter- 
 minedly disturl)ed a first night's performance. 
 
 Brewster received the news of the probal)le con- 
 spiracy with a callous quiet. He seemed so in- 
 different and so little grateful for the warning that 
 Masters thought that the business-manager doubted 
 the truth of his statements or ridiculed them. 
 
 ' I tell you what, Mr. Brewster !' exclaimed the 
 little man energetically, ' they'll play old Harry 
 with the governor and Miss Collier if you don't 
 mind on the first night — and he so nervous too. 
 And she, poor thing, stepping for the first time in 
 front of a Charing Cross audience. It'll be awful !' 
 
86 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ' I'll have a look into the matter, Masters,' re- 
 jomed the business-manager stoically. ' There's 
 always a great deal more cry than wool about these 
 affairs. Don't say anything about this to anybody, 
 and, above all, don't let anybody know you've told 
 me.' 
 
 • ' So they're going to spoil our first night !' he 
 muttered to himself savagely when the little dresser 
 had left the room. ' I always thought Miss North- 
 cote a mean, dangerous w^oman. We will see to 
 it. We wall give them rope enough to hang them- 
 selves.' 
 
 He went to a speaking-tube in the corner of his 
 office and blew into it. 
 
 * Send Dudley to me,' he called when the answer 
 came. 
 
 A simple-looking, wiry man of middle height 
 entered the office a couple of minutes afterwards. 
 His pale face w^as shadowed by a short, crisp, dark 
 beard and moustache, and there was about it an 
 air of dogged resolution. He was dressed like a 
 clerk of the humbler sort, or he might have been 
 taken for a workman's foreman. In the theatre 
 his recognised position was that of messenger, but 
 in reality he was Brewster's piivate detective. 
 
A LEADING LADY 87 
 
 ' Do .you know anything about these goings on 
 of the discharged men, Dudley ?' asked Brewster. 
 
 ' I do, sir,' was the quick reply. 
 
 ' Why have you not warned me ?' 
 
 ' There's plenty of time.' 
 
 ' You have the business in hand tlien ?' 
 
 ' Well.' 
 
 ' Who's watching it for you ?' 
 
 ' Freckled Smith, the carpenter, and Cockney 
 Joe.' 
 
 ' Are you sure of them ?' 
 
 ' Quite.' 
 
 ' What have you promised them ?' 
 
 ' Their pay and two pounds each if everything 
 goes right.' 
 
 ' Who is in the business ?' 
 
 ' Miss Northcote is instigating it. I'll l)ring you 
 a list of the men in the swim tills afternoon, if you 
 like.' 
 
 ' I'd better have it. I know you would do the 
 work without me ; but I'd better know all about it. 
 Here,' he continued, ' you will want money. Take 
 this to go on with,' and he handed the man a couple 
 of sovereigns. 
 
 ' We will see whether ]\riss Northcote is going to 
 
88 A LEADING LADY 
 
 spoil our first night,' he said. ' She is evidently a 
 new hand at this kind of amusement, else she 
 would not try to tamper with our discharged men. 
 We'll let her go on comfortably and quietly, and 
 put the spoke into the wheel in due time.' 
 
 That same afternoon Dudley entered the business- 
 manager's office and brought him a slip of paper. 
 
 ' Seventeen in all, I see,' said the latter, after he 
 had glanced over the list ; ' and nearly all of them 
 black sheep. McAfferty would sell his mother for 
 a drink, and Kichard Smith has been discharged 
 three times from this theatre for drunkenness. I 
 wonder why he was taken on again ?' 
 
 ' He's six foot three, Mr. Brewster,' replied the 
 messenger, ' and Mr. Watson likes tall men for his 
 guards.' 
 
 ' Take care,' continued Brewster, ' that 3^ou get 
 really all the names. It won't do to leave one out. 
 See that Smith and Joe bring their reports every 
 night, and, if possible, try to get such evidence as a 
 magistrate would accept of Miss Northcote's part in 
 the business.' 
 
 ' That won't be easy,' answered Dudley. * She 
 never comes herself. Her dresser's daughter is 
 young McAfferty's sweetheart, and she gets at the 
 
A LEADING LADY 89 
 
 father through the son. That's a long coml)ina- 
 tion, but it's simple enough in its effect. She is 
 too cunning a cat to put her neck into the noose.' 
 
 * Seventeen men so far,' Bre^Yster said to himself 
 when lie was alone, ' and I dare say there'll he two 
 dozen before all is over. But I'll make an example 
 of them this time, and spoil the game for awhile 
 at any rate.' 
 
 Notwithstanding all the precautions taken by 
 Watson and Brewster, Sybil learned one day that 
 there was a conspiracy on foot to injure her success 
 on the first night. The discharged men were very 
 nigh starvation, and it struck one of the bright 
 geniuses among them that, l)y a few delicately- 
 conveyed threats, they might perhaps lie able to 
 levy l)lackmail, and thus secure money and revenge 
 at the same time. One of their number made, 
 tlierefore, a clumsy show of indiscretion, and pre- 
 tended to betray the secret of the confederates. 
 
 ' It was a fact,' he said to the guileless Masters 
 over a pot of four half-and-half, ' that the men 
 meant to have their revenge on ^Fr. Watson and 
 Miss Collier and the whole crew, and they were 
 strong enougli to wreck the first performance 
 whenever it came off. He himself had been 
 
90 A LEADING LADY 
 
 dragged into the business against his will, and 
 there were others who were in the same boat with 
 him, and w^ho only sided with their fellows-conspira- 
 tors because they felt themselves wronged.' 
 
 The good Masters asked him if he wasn't 
 ashamed of himself, and the man confessed that 
 he didn't feel at all proud of his connection with 
 the business. 
 
 ' The men are starving,' he said, ' and a hungry 
 belly ain't got no scruples. Why don't the governor 
 try and square the business ? I'll help him — dash 
 me, if I won't.' 
 
 Masters went to his employer with his heart 
 brimful and his tongue not half so glib as usual 
 through the weight of the news. It was a foul 
 business ; they were a vicious crew. Why didn't 
 the governor try to square them? Buying them 
 was easier than fighting them. 
 
 Watson sent the little man again to Brewster, 
 and the latter received him quite as callously and 
 nonchalantly as before. Brewster's manner had 
 an effect directly opposite to that which the busi- 
 ness-manager intended. Masters took his free- 
 and-easy style as an affront, and stated openly 
 that Brewster was neglecting the serious warning 
 
A LEA DISC LADY 91 
 
 conveyed to him. He dolefully retailed his troubles 
 to old employes, the old employes talked about the 
 affair to men engaged on the stage, from them it 
 came to the supers, and through these it reached 
 the actors and actresses. Sybil heard all about it 
 one morning at rehearsal. She was a plucky, 
 determined girl, and strong in the knowledge of 
 her innocence. 
 
 ' Do you know about this conspiracy to guy me 
 on the first night, Mr. Watson ?' she asked her 
 manager. 
 
 ' I have heard about it, my dear Miss Collier,' 
 replied the latter ; ' and," he added, lowering his 
 voice to a whisper, ' I have the business well in 
 hand. You need not l)e afraid about it.' 
 
 ' I am not afraid about it !* she retorted with 
 flashing eyes. ' The mean fellows I The public 
 will protect me, I know.' 
 
 ' I will protect you, ]\Iiss Collier,' said Watson in 
 a fervent undertone, taking the little gloved liand 
 in his and pressing it, whilst his eyes spoke more 
 passionately than his tongue. 
 
 She had Ijeen avoiding liis contact all thi"(Uig]i 
 the previous rehearsals, l)ut now his touc-li tlirillcd 
 through hor like an cU'cti'ic contagion, wai'ui and 
 
92 A LEADING LADY 
 
 pleasurable, and, looking at him gratefully, she 
 allo^Yed her hand to remain between his fingers. 
 
 ' Thank you, Mr. Watson,' she breathed ; ' thank 
 you very much.' 
 
 ' You have confidence in me ?' he continued. 
 ' That is right. You would have even more confi- 
 dence in me if you knew me l)etter.' 
 
 She became afraid of the turn the conversation 
 was taking, and opening her part again went on 
 with her lines. Watson's words reassured her, but 
 the mischief was done. From that moment forward 
 a feeling of unaccountable unrest, of undefinable 
 uneasiness, settled upon her. She would have been 
 ashamed to confess to herself that she was afraid, 
 and as a matter of fact she was not actually afraid. 
 Had she l:>een al)le to face the troul)le there and 
 then she would have done so with a brave heart 
 and a smile or a laugh ; but the waiting, the days 
 that had to l)e passed, with the cowardly attack 
 creeping nearer and nearer, stealthily, unseen, 
 until it would burst at her from its ambush, had a 
 snaky, slimy terror of its own. 
 
 When Miller heard the news he was eager to 
 resort to all sorts of drastic and extreme measures. 
 He wanted to run to the next police-court to obtain 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 93 
 
 summonses for conspiracy, and when it was shown 
 to liim that no magistrate would convict upon such 
 evidence as could be for the moment produced, he 
 spoke al)out engaging an army of prize-fighters to 
 meet the bullies with their own style of warfare. 
 This kind of retaliation was so speedily and peremp- 
 torily vetoed, both by Miss Collier and by Watson, 
 that he glumly and sorrowfully expressed his 
 opinion that the only thing left to do was to buy 
 the scoundrels, and to get them to aj^plaud instead 
 of hissing. This course of action was forbidden 
 with equal energy by Brewster, who insisted that 
 not a penny should be paid to the rascals. 
 
 ' Will you tell me what I am to do then ?' whined 
 Miller disconsolately. 
 
 ' Do nothing whatever, my dear Miller,' replied 
 the sagacious and cold-blooded Brewster, ' then 
 you will be sure to do nothing rash or foolish.' 
 
 ' Miss Collier can trust to me,' repeated Watson 
 with a look full of meaning, ' I will see that she 
 comes to no harm.' 
 
 ' I am so much obliged to you, my dear fellow !' 
 exclaimed the careworn lover warmly. ' You won't 
 let iitc do anything, therefore I rely on 1/0 n." 
 
 He had not noticed the looks of fervent gratitude 
 
94 A LEADING LADY 
 
 that sped from Sybil's eyes towards AVatson's 
 during their conversation. The comedian's manner 
 was so full of unpretentious courage, of manly, un- 
 assertive devotion that Miller's hot and blustering 
 manner compared in no wise favourably with it. 
 
 How handsome her Eomeo appeared to her when 
 he so calmly stated that she was safe under his 
 protection ! There was still the dull dread of the 
 unseen danger which worried her ; but beyond that, 
 in her calmer moments, she blessed her stars for 
 having so true and so manly a manager to take 
 care of her interests. He became more handsome 
 than ever in her eyes, he looked noble, and his 
 quiet self-confidence reassured her. For that re- 
 assurance she was more than grateful to him, and 
 a warmer feeling than mere recognition slowly 
 generated itself in her bosom. It was not love, 
 that of course it could not be ; but she asked her- 
 self over and over again if the woman would not 
 be lucky and happy who would be so blessed by 
 fortune as to be allowed to love and to be loved by 
 such a man. She no longer acted with the cold 
 caution she had intended to display at the com- 
 mencement of the rehearsals. When he stood with 
 his arms about her waist she nestled closely to him, 
 
A LEADING LADY 95 
 
 as in her part it was prescribed. When her head 
 lay upon his shoulder, she felt that it rested in 
 warm comfort ; when her hand was within his, she 
 was pleased by the contact ; and _yet in her heart of 
 hearts she was true to Herbert Miller, and would 
 have resented as an outrage the charge that she 
 was wronging her lover. 
 
 The rehearsals became more frequent and more 
 prolonged, and she was often compelled to take her 
 dinner near the theatre. On such occasions the 
 little party generally consisted of three persons, 
 — Miller, Sybil, and Watson — until at last the con- 
 fiding lover, as a matter of course, regularly invited 
 the manager. To Sybil it afforded a new pleasure 
 to have not only her lover by her side, but also the 
 man with whom she was so pleased to be asso- 
 ciated. 
 
 Watson was a man of experience in dealings with 
 the fair sex, and he knew that when once the train 
 is laid, it will run its course without the need of 
 nuich fannhig. He Ijccame reticent in his turn, 
 and cauti(jus, and listless. Indeed, he carried this 
 kind of (piiet attack so far that Sybil became 
 slightly alarmed, and one day asked him if she had 
 done anything to offend him. 
 
96 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ' Oh no, my dear Miss Collier,' he answered ; 
 ' only I am preoccupied, and yon must excuse me. 
 A man who has a heavy production on his shoulders 
 cannot ahvays be pleasant, even though he might 
 like to be. It's my misfortune, and not my fault, 
 if I have done or said anything of which you do not 
 approve. I will try to avoid it in future.' 
 
 The pressure of his hand upon hers again thrilled 
 her, and its meaning was more understandable 
 than it had ever been before. 
 
 Time wore on until the week previous to the pro- 
 duction of the new piece was reached. Brewster 
 and the wary, cunning Dudley had been deeply 
 engaged all the while in quietly and with unseen 
 hands weaving a stout net to entrap the con- 
 spirators. The latter being met with cold contempt 
 in their blackmailing negotiations, became more 
 furious than ever ; and when men lose their 
 tempers, no matter to what class of the community 
 they may belong, they are generally apt to do 
 unguarded and foolish things. 
 
 The result of all this was, that on the day 
 previous to the one on which the new piece was to 
 be produced. Miss Northcote, to her amazement, 
 received a letter from the firm of Burney, Wil- 
 
A LEADING LADY 97 
 
 kinson, and Southern, Mr. Eandolph Watson's 
 solicitors, which was ^YO^ded as follows : 
 
 ' Our client, Mr. Eandolph Watson, has conclu- 
 sive information, and is able to prove to the satis- 
 faction of a magistrate, that you have for some time 
 past been engaged in instigating and fostering a 
 conspiracy for the purpose of creating a disturb- 
 ance at his theatre, on Wednesday evening next, 
 on the occasion of the first production of the new 
 piece. Your dresser's daughter Eosalie and the 
 young man McAfferty have acted in this matter as 
 your acknowledged agents, and to prove to you 
 how ample and complete is the information in 
 Mr. Watson's possession, we subjoin a list of one- 
 half the names of the men engaged with you in 
 the conspiracy ; the other half you will bo readily 
 able to fill in yourself. We think it best, in the 
 interest of all concerned, to warn you, and to give 
 you an opportunity of withdrawing from the evil 
 and unlawful designs upon which you have entered, 
 and of inducing the men who arc conspiring with 
 you to do the same. And we give you full warning 
 that if these designs, or any portion of them, arc 
 attempted to 1)C carried out on Wednesday evening 
 
 7 
 
98 A LEADING LADY 
 
 next, we shall take such proceedings agamst you 
 and your confederates, both crmimal and otherwise, 
 as we may deem proper.' 
 
 Amazement and rage struggled fiercely and 
 viciously with a desire for revenge. Miss North- 
 cote knew perfectly well that if the slightest proof 
 were adduced that she had been engaged in a 
 conspiracy of the kind with which she was charged, 
 her professional career was at an end. She would 
 be boycotted worse than a leper ; no manager would 
 engage her at any price, and she knew also that 
 the London pubhc itself would bitterly resent the 
 crime of having endeavoured to interfere with its 
 free judgment. Her brother and sister artistes 
 would shun her, and she would be pointed and 
 scoffed at. It would not be necessary to convict 
 her before a magistrate of the actual crime of 
 conspu-acy ; it would be sufficient to produce such 
 evidence as would leave a stain, a doubt. 
 
 She had thought the mine skilfully laid; not 
 having acted in the matter in her own person, she 
 had deemed an accusation against herself impos- 
 sible ; but the letter before her proved amply that 
 the Charing Cross management had concise, ex- 
 
A LEADING LADY 99 
 
 plicit, and full information. There was a traitor in 
 the camp, no doubt. Somebody had been bought, 
 and somebody had sold her and left her tied hand 
 and foot. There ^Yas nothing to be done except 
 to stem the tide ^Yhich ^YOuld carry her to ruin. 
 She herself had to dam the filthy flood of 
 treachery so that she herself might not be en- 
 gulfed. The callous, easy-going Bre^Yster had 
 been more than a match for her, and she was 
 beaten. 
 
 Of course a bold face had to be put on it, and 
 the whole business had to be denied in toto. She 
 knew that the solicitors would laugh at it, and that 
 Watson was not a man to be trifled with when he 
 had such proof in his possession. With trembhng 
 fingers she wrote : 
 
 * Miss Northcote has received Messrs. Burney, 
 Wilkinson, and Southern's amazing letter with 
 sorrow and surprise. She is grieved to think that 
 Mr. Watson could possibly believe her guilty of 
 such base conduct, and she is surprised that a firm 
 of solicitors could lend countenance to so unfounded 
 a charge. She wishes Mr. Watson nothing but the 
 very best of success, and she trusts tliat the events 
 
 7—2 
 
loo A LEADING LADY 
 
 of to-morrow night will prove to him how utterly 
 he was mistaken.' 
 
 To this epistle she received, on the same evening, 
 the following answer from the solicitors : 
 
 ' We beg to acknowledge the receipt of your note 
 of this morning, and we trust sincerely that to- 
 morrow evening's performance will pass in such a 
 manner as not to compel us to resort to the 
 strenuous proceedings against you which we have 
 mentioned in our letter of yesterday, and which we 
 shall assuredly take if cause arises.' 
 
 These men knew what they were about; they 
 were not to be baffled by mere assertions. Watson 
 showed copies of his solicitors' letters and Miss 
 Northcote's reply to Miss Collier. 
 
 ' You see, my dear Miss Collier, it's her interest 
 now to make sure that everything goes off quietly. 
 She is responsible for the suppression of the con- 
 spiracy. Your own rival will have to protect 
 you.' 
 
 ' What a clever man you are !' Sybil replied. 
 * And how good and kind you are ! I shall never 
 be able to thank you.' 
 
A LEADIXG LADY loi 
 
 ' You will perhaps one day,' he breathed m reply. 
 ' I'm not a hard creditor ; very little ^Yill repay 
 me.' 
 
 She looked him in the face and smiled. She 
 guessed his meaning, and this time blushed not. 
 
VI. 
 
 The first night was over, and piece, actor, and 
 actress had made an unalloyed, huge success. 
 The evening had passed without a hitch, and no 
 sign of the threatened conspiracy had at any time 
 clouded the horizon. 
 
 The baffled rascals, deserted by Miss Northcote, 
 who was to have supplied them with the means of 
 paying for admission to the theatre, aware of 
 the fact that they had been betrayed, and that 
 any combined attempt to interfere with the smooth 
 progress of the evening's performance would bring 
 down upon them the swooping arm of the law on a 
 charge of conspiracy, found a vent for their har- 
 rowed feelings by holding a meeting in the back 
 parlour of a dingy public-house in a dingy neigh- 
 bouring street. They denounced and cursed Miss 
 Northcote, who had instigated their course of action 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 103 
 
 and then had sold them ; they denounced and 
 cursed the unknown traitors ^Yho had ' split ' 
 against them and had ' blown the gaff ' ; they 
 denounced and cursed Watson, Brewster, and Miss 
 Collier, even the light-hearted and inoffensive little 
 Masters coming in for his share of the fierce and 
 foul-mouthed denunciation. But being reduced to 
 cursing, they were powerless to injure either the 
 manager, the actress, or the piece. 
 
 Two or three of their number who presented 
 themselves at the gallery pay-box, the warning and 
 counsel of their comrades notwithstanding, were 
 met by a trusty official, who, in the company of 
 two sturdy attendants, was standing watch and 
 guard. They were informed that they would not 
 be admitted, and when they defiantly demanded 
 the reason of the refusal, they were told that they 
 were rascals who had come for the purpose of 
 creating a disturbance. The sj'mpathy of the 
 bystanders was by this course of procedure imme- 
 diately enlisted on the side of the management, 
 and when the conspirators endeavoured to resist 
 the edict, they were relentlessly tumbled out of the 
 theatre on to the pavement. There, as they shouted 
 and created an obstruction, the policeman on duty 
 
I04 A LEADING LADY 
 
 took them into custody without further ado, and 
 haled them to the police-station. 
 
 As there are people who, according to the poet, 
 
 ' to church repair, 
 Not for the doctrme, but the music there,' 
 
 there are persons — intelligent, well-bred men and 
 women — who go to a first night not so much to see 
 the performance, as to witness a possible failure, 
 and the consequent baiting and badgering of 
 author, actors, and manager, which have, in these 
 latter days, been permitted to become the prime 
 and unrestrained amusement of a certain small but 
 noisy section of first-night playgoers. 
 
 The announcement of the engagement of an 
 actress totally unknown to London audiences for so 
 important a position as that of leading lady of the 
 Charing Cross Theatre had been received first of 
 all with cold surprise, and then with resentment. 
 There were at the moment when Miss Collier was 
 so extremely favoured a number of well-known 
 London leading actresses in want of engagements, 
 and although these worthy ladies were too wise in 
 their generation to personally complain about 
 neglect, they and their friends took care that 
 
A LEADING LADY 105 
 
 reports should be spread about Miss Collier's past 
 career which were none too favourable for the 
 young lady's prospects. 
 
 The stall audience contained a large sprinkling of 
 persons disposed to be thus hypercritical, and it is a 
 strange fact in theatrical economy that people who 
 are known to be so biased invariably find ready 
 admission to stalls and boxes when the outer public 
 are unable to purchase seats. Their faces are well 
 known, and the directors of popular places of 
 amusement like to make a kind of exhibition of 
 them. 
 
 But these good people had come to scoff and had re- 
 mained to pray. They who, before the curtain had 
 risen on the first act, had, with unabashed counte- 
 nances, prophesied the speedy downfall of the new 
 candidate for public favour, swarmed on to and 
 thronged the stage when the curtain had descended 
 for the last time, when shout after shout of approval 
 resounded through the theatre, when the applause 
 thundered in the galleries, and stalls, and pit, and 
 echoed through the passages, and when Pvandolph 
 Watson, leading Sybil Collier by the hand, had for 
 the third time made his bow of recognition before 
 the audience. She was a wonder, she was a genius ; 
 
io6 A LEADING LADY 
 
 she was destined to become a new and modern 
 Sarah Siddons. She was a marvel m comedy, and 
 in the more pathetic passages she had held the 
 audience spellbomid. She required a little finish 
 here and there, and this or that touch might have 
 been a little improved, and this or that scene had 
 been slightly marred — by nervousness, most likely ; 
 but, on the whole, it was an extraordinary perform- 
 ance, and they were all so glad — so downright 
 heartily glad, of her great and unchallenged success. 
 The good dames, with their male friends, vied with 
 one another in smothering Sybil with their adula- 
 tions, and in offering her all kinds of assistance in 
 case she might require them. 
 
 Sybil was worn out by the excitement and the 
 terrible nervous strain of the evening, and prayed 
 in her heart that she might be left alone. The 
 noisy chattering crowd of supposed friends and 
 admirers invaded her dressing-room as they had 
 previously invaded the stage, and their position in 
 the profession required that they should be treated 
 with courtesy, that their fulsome praise should be 
 received with recognition. 
 
 Sybil sat in the big armchair in her cosy little 
 dressing-room, which Watson had furnished in the 
 
A LEADING LADY 107 
 
 shape of a small boudoir for her, with dainty 
 flowered cretonne curtains, and little rococo looking- 
 glasses, whilst one big mirror ran from floor to 
 ceiling on one side. The poor girl's heart was sore 
 in spite of her great thankfulness. She knew 
 enough of the w'orld and of the theatrical profession 
 to feel that this wholesale flattery was far from 
 being hearty and spontaneous. She had not been 
 able to say a word to Randolph Watson, and to ask 
 him what he thought of her. Miller's face had 
 flashed upon her at times from the box in which he 
 sat, and she had seen him applaud like mad when- 
 ever he had a chance. After that she had lost sight 
 of her lover altogether ; but she knew beforehand 
 that it was useless to ask him for a critical opinion 
 — whatever she did he would vow divine. 
 
 At last the idle crowd thinned visibly, and dropped 
 one by one away. Sybil had to make a desperate 
 effort to get rid of them by actually commencing to 
 undress, and to prepare for reassuming her every- 
 day costume. 
 
 It was long past twelve o'clock when a discreet 
 knock at the door was heard, and little Masters 
 Ijrought a message from Watson to ask if Sybil 
 were ready to join her manager downstairs. 
 
io8 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ' And did you like my performance ?' she asked, 
 with anxious heart-throb, as Watson met her at the 
 door of his dressing-room. Her two little hands 
 were in his, and she looked into his eyes with a 
 fervent endeavour to read his inmost meaning. 
 
 * I was extremely pleased, Miss Collier,' he said ; 
 ' more than pleased.' 
 
 ' You have nothing to reprove in the whole 
 play?' 
 
 ' I won't go so far as that,' he said, pressing the 
 soft fingers he was holding ; ' I won't say that 
 which I do not think to be strictly true ; but I must 
 confess that I was surj)rised. I had expected a 
 good performance, but you gave a splendid one.' 
 
 * Do you really mean that ? You don't say it to 
 flatter me and to please me ?' 
 
 * My dear Miss Collier, I am your manager. It 
 is my business to make the most I can of your 
 talents, and not to spoil you. Believe me, the little 
 blemishes shall be pointed out all in due time ; 
 but, taking the performance as a whole, I congratu- 
 late you — and myself as well — heartily upon your 
 success.' 
 
 She felt thrice happy now. During that whole 
 evening she had played for one man, and that man 
 
A LEADING LADY 109 
 
 was not her lover. Herbert Miller, she was well 
 aware, would be pleased by her slightest effort ; and 
 he loved her already so deeply that his admiration 
 would no further be increased. But Eandolph 
 Watson ! To gain his approval she would have 
 striven to do the impossible ; and she did that 
 which might to others have seemed impossible — she 
 roused an originally apathetic audience to the 
 height of seething enthusiasm. She was so grate- 
 ful to him for the praise he bestowed upon her, and 
 so comforted, that she might have cried happy tears 
 if she had been granted the privacy of her own 
 chamber. 
 
 Miller busied himself about her with kindly and 
 dutiful attentions. No faithful cavalicre scrvcnte 
 ever did more loyal service to his fair lady in times 
 of mediaeval courtesy than the happy Miller be- 
 stowed upon Sybil Collier that evening. 
 
 It had been arranged that Sybil, Miller, Brewster 
 and Watson, together with a few friends, should 
 sup at the Metropole, and after supper wait to read 
 the early copies of the daily papers containing the 
 critical reports of the performance. The ubicjuitous 
 Masters had, with the assistance of the friendly 
 clerk of a wholesale newsagent, arranged to be 
 
no A LEADING LADY 
 
 supplied with all the London papers at three o'clock 
 in the morning, the Times being the only exception. 
 They were a jovial party in that great room at 
 the big hotel in Northumberland Avenue, and 
 Miller, as founder of the feast, made strenuous 
 efforts to get the party to swim in Perrier Jouet, 
 1874. They were sure, or nearly sure, of the 
 friendly consideration of the great Morning News. 
 Mr. Barnaby Walker, the principal critic of the 
 paper, was an intimate friend of Herbert Miller, 
 and had over and over again expressed his great 
 admiration for Sybil Collier's talents. But all of 
 them were on the tiptoe of excitement as to how 
 such influential papers as the Daily News or the 
 Standard, for instance, would receive the perform- 
 ance. They could not possibly, in the face of the 
 enthusiasm there had been exhibited, criticise it 
 harshly, they thought ; but yet, as Brewster perti- 
 nently expressed it, there was a way of ' damning by 
 faint praise ' which was worse than actual condem- 
 nation. The Charing Cross management had not 
 been on extremely good terms with most of the 
 leading critics. Many of these gentlemen had 
 pieces to offer to London managements, and many 
 of them had offered their pieces to Mr. Kandolph 
 
A LEADING LADY iii 
 
 Watson, who had been compelled politely and ruth- 
 lessly to refuse them one after the other. After 
 that, the mtercourse between Eandolph Watson 
 and his late friends of the press had been of that 
 glacial courtesy which is far worse than enmity, 
 and he fully expected that he and his management 
 would be none too well treated. 
 
 Shortly after the clock struck three, Masters and 
 Dudley bounded into the room with reams of but 
 half-dry, newly-issued dailies, and distributed the 
 sheets at random all over the room. A surprise 
 was in store for them. Every daily paper in 
 London went into ecstasies over the performance, 
 the piece, the actor and the actress, with the 
 single and solitary exception of the Mor)ii}i[f Ncirs. 
 Mr. Barnaby Walker in his criticism of the piece 
 had endeavoured and succeeded in discovering 
 blemishes which nobody would have dreamt of 
 finding without the experienced guiding finger of 
 the great critic. He warmed a little when he 
 spoke of the effect the piece and the artistes pro- 
 duced upon the audience ; but he was coldly 
 cynical and sternly critical whenever he spoke of 
 Randolph Watson or Sybil Collier. For the latter 
 he prophesied a possibly great future, but he told 
 
112 A LEADING LADY 
 
 her that she would have a good deal to learn 
 before she could ho^oe to find her name placed on a 
 level with those of the great leadmg ladies who 
 adorned the London stage. 
 
 Sybil could have cried, and nearly cried, when 
 she read the notice, and Miller, with his usual 
 exuberance, vowed that he would punch his friend's 
 head. When he was told to hush and not say such 
 silly things, much less do them, he felt the most 
 injured of mortals. 
 
 Sybil took the notice so much to heart that her 
 distress increased with each minute she pondered 
 over it. 
 
 ' What do you think of the notice, Mr. Watson ?' 
 she asked in a tremulous anxiety. ' Do you think 
 it is just ? Do you think it is true ?' 
 
 * My dear Miss Collier,' he said, ' it is not just, 
 and it is barely true. It is not altogether true, 
 because it only tells a portion of the truth. The 
 man is an excellent critic, and yet he omits many 
 points he might praise, and makes a great show of 
 the few touches he can conscientiously blame. 
 But don't trouble yourself over it. Barnaby 
 Walker is a sensitive crank. He is known to be 
 Miller's friend. Most likely he is afraid of being 
 
A LEADING LADY 113 
 
 suspected of favouring us, and therefore deliberately 
 goes out of his ^Yay to attack us for the purpose 
 of proving his impartiality. He will see the per- 
 formance a second time, and then a change will 
 come over the spirit of the scene. He will say that 
 you have taken to heart the advice he has given 
 you, and that you have so wonderfully improved 
 as to have, in a short space of time, become a 
 magnificent actress.' 
 
 'If I could only hope so !' she breathed. 
 
 * Be assured it will be as I tell you,' answered the 
 manager. 
 
 How wise he seemed to her, how just, how dis- 
 cerning, how impartial ! He was just to her, and, 
 she acknowledged, just to the man who attacked 
 her. He had been kindly appreciative, but not 
 over fulsome in his praise in the hour of her great 
 success, and now, when she felt the need of an ex- 
 perienced judgment for her support and the allevia- 
 tion of her grief, he was again ready to soothe her. 
 Miller could never have done that ; the good kindly 
 soul was always being run away with by his 
 nervous temper and his exuberance. She might 
 love Miller, and she might esteem his many quali- 
 ties, Ijut she felt surely, as she compared the two 
 
 H 
 
114 ^ LEADING LADY 
 
 men, that she could not look up to hhn for support 
 in the measure she might be able to expect from 
 Eandolph Watson. 
 
 In the fulness of her little heart she found new 
 virtues in the man she admired, and, sad to say, 
 the man she thought she loved sank in her estima- 
 tion accordingly. Kandolph Watson became more 
 than handsome : he became noble ; he became 
 great. This \Yas the kind of man she would 
 gladly have acknowledged her lord and master — a 
 man, a king among men. 
 
 As she drove home on that winter night with 
 Miller, who, worn out by the excitement and by 
 persistent combat with Perrier Jouet '74, was 
 sitting back in the brougham by her side, open- 
 mouthed and snoring, she thought that Eandolph 
 Watson would not have slept if he had been allowed 
 to thus pass a quarter of an hour. His arm would 
 have been about her waist, and he would have 
 pressed her to him in w^arm and loving solace. 
 Her head would have nestled to his shoulder, and 
 she would have been happy — oh, so hapi^y ! 
 
 It was a bright winter night. The air was cold 
 and brisk and keen. She felt chilly in spite of her 
 wraps, and ensconced herself shivering in the 
 
A LEADING LADY 115 
 
 corner of the brougham. A big dray was crossmg 
 the road m front of them, and her coachman had 
 pulled up his carriage by the side of a street lamp 
 to allow the lumbering vehicle to pass. The yellow, 
 smeary glare fell upon Miller's face, and as she 
 looked upon the open mouth, shadowed by its 
 reddish auburn stuljl^y moustache, the uneven, 
 partly projecting, discoloured teeth flashed at her 
 in a light she had never seen before. Miller's face 
 was nearly ugly, and she asked herself with a slight 
 shudder if she would ever be able to get herself to 
 kiss those lips. She had always tolerated Miller, 
 and had liked him for his qualities more than his 
 appearance, and she had not thought that it was 
 necessary for her to admire a man to love him ; 
 but now the features of her affianced husband 
 became so unprepossessing, that a revulsion of 
 feeling began a petty turmoil in her bosom. 
 
 When she arrived at her home at Clapham, 
 Miller was still asleep. She aroused him by a 
 gentle push. 
 
 ' Are you going to let me go in without a word, 
 my dear ?' she asked peevishly. 
 
 The young man ruljbed his eyes and looked about 
 him ill ;i fri.^lit. 
 
 8—2 
 
ii6 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ' What have I been doing ? Where are we ?' he 
 asked. 
 
 ' Why, you great goose, you have been snormg 
 all the ^Yay from the Metropole. You are at the 
 door of my house, and I want to say good-night.' 
 
 ' I am so sorr}^' he breathed, with rej)entant face 
 and half-tearful voice, ' I am so extremely sorry. 
 You must have thought me so very rude, dear. 
 I— I— I ' 
 
 ' Don't say another word about it. I'm going in. 
 Good-night.' 
 
 She barely pressed the hand which he tremu- 
 lously held out to her. The door of the brougham 
 clicked, and Miller saw her flying up the steps. 
 He strained his eyes to catch another glimpse of 
 her, but in a moment the hall-door was shut and 
 she was gone. 
 
 ' I have offended her,' he said to himself, as he 
 drove towards his chambers in the Albany. ' What 
 an ass I am ! I wish I could punch my own head 
 for having gone to sleep. She has a perfect right 
 to be annoyed.' 
 
 He had been very drowsy before, but he slept 
 but little when he reached his own room. 
 
 ' I have offended her,' he kept repeating to him- 
 
A LEADING LADY 117 
 
 self. ' What am I to do ? I must think of some- 
 thmg to make it up.' 
 
 When Sybil woke next morning she found on 
 the little table by the side of her bed a small 
 packet. On opening it there appeared to her 
 astonished gaze a velvet and satin case containing 
 a riviere of sparkling diamonds. Herbert Miller's 
 card was inside, and bore the words : ' To my 
 darling Sybil, as a memento of last night.' 
 
 * He is very good,' she said to herself, ' and he is 
 rich. As his wife I would never know what care 
 means. Shall I ever be his wife ?' she asked ; 
 'shall I, shall I?' 
 
 Then her thoughts wandered away and limned 
 to her fancy the handsome face of Eandolph 
 Watson. 
 
 ' Shall I ?' she repeated, ' shall I ?' and there 
 was no answering echo to that cry in her heart. 
 
VII. 
 
 The piece had been running six weeks, and was an 
 amazing success even for London, the city of 
 amazing successes and failures. Great crowds 
 blocked up the side streets nightly in the rush for 
 seats to pit and gallery. The better parts of the 
 house w^ere literally besieged, and seats were 
 booked for months in advance. Mr. Randolph 
 Watson's management, which would have sunk 
 into the gulf of utter failure but for Miller's helping 
 hand, was again established in public favour, and 
 money was coming in so fast that all past losses 
 were wiped away. 
 
 On the Saturday night at the end of the sixth 
 week, after the close of the performance, Eandolph 
 Watson was closeted with his business-manager 
 and partner, Edward Brewster, in the latter' s 
 office. A bio- sheet covered with figures lay before 
 
A LEADING LADY 119 
 
 them, and the man of busmess was explammg to 
 the comedian the position of their affairs. 
 
 ' We had £'2,500 capital,' said Bre^Yster, ' and on 
 the 29th of November last our ledger showed debts 
 to the extent of i'2,619. We were therefore 
 i'5,119 to the bad on that day. The production 
 of the new piece and the advance expenses cost 
 us £'2,573 ; therefore we had £7,692 to make up 
 before a penny of profit was made. Last week 
 our expenses were £830, and our receipts, includ- 
 ing the morning performances, £2,127 15s., leaving 
 us a profit of £1,297 15s. on the week. Miller found 
 us £6,000, and in six weeks we have cleared £7,430, 
 and therefore all our losses and the cost of produc- 
 tion are very nearly cleared away; and we still 
 have Miller's £6,000 and our capital in hand. Do 
 you understand all that ?' 
 
 ' I follow it quite,' replied the comedian. ' We 
 are making, according to that, an average profit of 
 £1,250 a week.' 
 
 ' Quite so.' 
 
 'How long do you think that these takings will 
 continue ?' 
 
 ' Two or three months at least.' 
 
 ' And then?' 
 
I20 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ' And then we can reckon, I think, on a thousand 
 pounds a week profit for a couple of months more. 
 Afterwards the profits will drop to five or six 
 hundred pounds a week, or perhaps a little less.' 
 
 ' And that, I suppose, will last a few months 
 longer ?' 
 
 * Yes ; I think we are safe for a forty weeks' run 
 at least, before we shall want a new piece.' 
 
 ' And in those forty weeks,' went on Randolph 
 Watson, * we shall make about forty thousand 
 pounds profit.' 
 
 ' That will be about the figure.' 
 
 ' Humph !' 
 
 ' Aren't you satisfied with the prospect ?' 
 
 ' Quite. But I was thinking ' The comedian 
 
 paused for a moment, and cast an anxious look 
 towards his partner. ' I was thinking ' 
 
 ' Well, what were you thinking about ?' 
 
 ' I was thinking that Miller for the loan of 
 £6,000 will make a profit of £10,000 in less than a 
 year.' 
 
 ' He will do that if we keep him as partner,' 
 retorted the business-manager. 
 
 ' If we keep him as partner ?' questioned the 
 comedian. 
 
A LEADING LADY 121 
 
 ' Yes, if we keep him as partner,' was Brewster's 
 pointed remark. 
 
 The actor-manager sat bolt upright in his chair. 
 
 ' You made the agreement, Brewster,' he said, 
 ' and you know more about these things than I 
 do.' 
 
 ' Burney, Wilkinson, and Southern drew the 
 contract,' retorted Brewster, in a tone of dry matter- 
 of-fact, ' but I sketched it out.' 
 
 * Hang it all, Brewster !' exclaimed Randolph 
 Watson, ' don't play hide-and-seek with me. Our 
 interests are the same. You said just now " if we 
 keep him as partner." There's something behind 
 that. Speak up ; is there a way of getting rid of 
 him ?' 
 
 ' I liave been saying to myself that ten thousand 
 a year for six thousand pounds capital is too heavy 
 an interest to pay.' 
 
 ' That is my candid opinion, and I'm glad that 
 you see it in the same light.' 
 
 ' I liave Ijocn looking over the agreement, and I 
 find that in our anxiety to clench the l)argain wo 
 have signed a very firm document. There arc onl}- 
 two ways of getting out of it ; one is, to buy him 
 out.' 
 
122 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ' Buy him out ?' asked the comedian. ' How can 
 you expect us to do that ? He's not such a fool as 
 to throw up such an income without a due return. 
 He looks simple enough, and he's pretty free with 
 his money, but he's not likely to make us a present 
 of thousands.' 
 
 'Well,' retorted the business-manager calmly, 
 looking his partner straight in the face, ' there is 
 another way.' 
 
 ' What's that ?' asked Watson. 
 
 ' It is one which you will have to take in hand,' 
 replied his partner. 
 
 The comedian paused for a moment's space, and 
 then ejaculated an inquiring ' Well ?' 
 
 ' It is to make him quarrel with Miss Collier,' 
 w^as the matter-of-fact reply. 
 
 ' Quarrel with Miss Collier ?' exclaimed Watson, 
 with a great show of amazement. ' What on earth 
 makes you think of that ?' 
 
 ' Because it is the simplest way of getting rid of 
 him,' answered Brewster. ' He has only taken an 
 interest in the theatre because he wished to help 
 her. Make him quarrel with her, and when he has 
 broken with her he will throw his partnership 
 agreement to the dogs. I know him well enough. 
 
A LEADING LADY 123 
 
 He is impulsive, headstrong, and quick to act; and, 
 believe me, that is the best and cheapest way.' 
 
 ' And why am I to take charge of that business?' 
 asked the actor. 
 
 The business-manager blinked more than ever 
 with his little eyes, and smiled. 
 
 ' Come now, Watson,' he said ; ' I'm not as wide 
 awake as a weasel, but neither am I a mole. You 
 can twist the girl round your finger, if you like. 
 Twist her, not only for j^our purpose, but for our 
 joint interests.' 
 
 ' And how am I to make Herbert Miller quarrel 
 with her, pray ?' asked the actor, with a great 
 pretence of naivete. 
 
 ' Why, goodness gracious, Watson !' exclaimed 
 the ponderous one, with a faint show of ill-temper ; 
 ' what will you ask me to advise you upon next ? 
 You'll find it easy enough, and if you want a report 
 or two spread about the clubs, let me know, and it's 
 done.' 
 
 ' I will think the matter over,' said the comedian. 
 ' The game is perhaps worth the candle.' 
 
 ' The game is worth the candle in more ways 
 than one,' said Eandolph Watson to himself, going 
 down the stairs to his cab. ' The girl is handsome 
 
124 A LEADING LADY 
 
 — devilishly handsome. She is clever, and she 
 seems, after all, destined to adorn a niche in my 
 gallery of beauties. You will have to set to work 
 in earnest, Randolph. I think the prize is to be 
 had for the seeking. Yes, yes,' he continued, as he 
 drove away, ' she will most assuredly adorn a niche 
 in my gallery of beauties.' 
 
 Now, if anybody had told Eandolph Watson and 
 Edward Brewster that they were mean and 
 despicable rogues, they would have been surprised 
 and pained. Herbert Miller had saved them from 
 ruin. Now, a man may be perfectly honest, and 
 yet not possess a spark of human gratitude. But 
 it has been laid down by all lawmakers of nations, 
 from Moses, Drako, and Solon onwards, that he 
 who deprives another man of his property against 
 his will, and without his consent, is a thief and a 
 rogue. Here they were plotting to deprive Herbert 
 Miller of his happiness, and of the money justly 
 accruing to him. A man's happiness, like Othello's 
 good name, although of great value to the owner, is 
 not held by civilized law to be a quantity for the 
 purloining of which a man can be prosecuted ; but 
 even the unscrupulous Brewster would have ac- 
 knowledged that the large sums due to Herbert 
 
A LEADING LADY 125 
 
 Miller were property for the unlawful acquisition of 
 which he would have rendered himself liable to 
 condign punishment. 
 
 Neither Eandolph Watson nor Edward Brewster 
 was really dishonest according to the cold legal 
 interpretation of the term. Neither of them would 
 have picked Miller's pocket ; neither of them would 
 have stolen a sovereign from his mantelpiece ; 
 neither of them would even have cheated him at 
 cards. Neither of them would have dreamed of 
 robbing excepting in the most legal and respectable 
 fashion. For it is strange paradox in criminal 
 terminology that whilst it is a felony to steal a 
 penny loaf, it may be perfectly honest, respectable, 
 and excusable according to law to rob a man of 
 thousands of pounds. Porteus has said that ' one 
 murder made a villain, millions a hero.' Brewster, 
 who only the week previously had had a poor check- 
 taker condemned to two months' hard labour for 
 stealing and reselling three shilling checks, con- 
 sidered that he was doing no dishonest act when he 
 conspired with his partner to rob Herbert Miller of 
 his thousands. On the contrary, he rather flattered 
 himself on his sagacity and business acumen, and 
 rubbed his hands in complacent pride at his clever- 
 
126 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ness. And, after all, he was only doing that 
 which, less barefacedly perhaps, occurs a hundred 
 times in each year in a hundred different w^alks of 
 life. We are told that when the devil was sick he 
 offered to become a monk ; but when his Satanic 
 Majesty w^as cured, according to the same authority, 
 he repented himself of his bargain, and ' the devil 
 a monk was he.' When the Charing Cross manage- 
 ment was on the extreme verge of ruin, Brewster 
 was perfectly willing to pay any interest for money 
 to help him out of his trouble ; but when ruin had 
 been averted, he thought it not at all unbecoming 
 a former officer in her Majesty's army, and a 
 gentleman, by dishonest means to rid himself of his 
 contract. 
 
 ' I have been thinking over your suggestion about 
 Miller's partnership,' said Watson to the business- 
 manager, when they were again closeted a few days 
 later, ' and I feel sure that Miller will not throw 
 up his agreement with us on account of anything I 
 can get the girl to do. He will gladly forgive any 
 escapade, and the little woman is too straight and 
 too staunch as yet to do anything really serious. 
 He will stick to the girl while she gives him the 
 least little llickering glow of hope.' 
 
A LEADING LADY 127 
 
 ' That's cold comfort,' retorted Brewster. ' And 
 are we to keep on paying him two hundred and 
 lift}' or three hmidred pomids a week for the 
 advance of six thousand?' 
 
 ' No, I would rather not,' answered the manager, 
 pursing his lips. 
 
 ' Well, and how do you propose to arrange the 
 matter ?' asked the man of business. 
 
 ' I will endeavour to get the girl to quarrel with 
 him: 
 
 ' I don't care a cent how you settle the busi- 
 ness,' rejoined Brewster, ' if we only get rid of 
 him.' 
 
 ' Well, I fancy we can get rid of him — I think,' 
 said Watson ; ' but it may take a little time. I 
 will set the ball rolling next Sunday, but you must 
 help me.' 
 
 ' Anything between pitch and toss and man- 
 slaughter, old man,' exclaimed the anxious partner. 
 
 * Miller goes on Friday next to Liverpool, to be 
 present at his sister's wedding. On Sunday next 
 you must give a little dinner at your rooms, and 
 you must invite a snug party of eight, consisting of 
 yourself, myself, Miller, Sybil Collier, and two men 
 and two women whom I will name to you, whose 
 
128 A LEADING LADY 
 
 positions are indisputable, and whose characters 
 are irreproachable, but who are not likely to keep 
 any fact to themselves which, in their opinion, 
 would interest their neighbours and injure their 
 friends. You will send Miller's and the girl's 
 invitations on the Friday night, and Miller's will 
 reach his chambers when he is gone. I will get the 
 girl to come alone, in spite of Miller's absence, and 
 I think I can manage the rest of the business.' 
 
 * I think you can,' exclaimed Brewster. ' Trust 
 you to be there, or thereabouts, where a petticoat is 
 concerned. But my rooms are not furnished well 
 enough for such a spread.' 
 
 ' We must not mind spending a hundred pounds 
 of the partnership money — or more, if necessary — 
 and do the thing well. Gunter will supply the 
 meal and the service, and Waller will lend you 
 whatever furniture, curtains, carpets, and knick- 
 knacks you may want. If that will be our only 
 expense for getting out of a bad bargain, it will be 
 cheap. The girl would never come to my place ; 
 but you have such a reputation for bachelor 
 respectability, that she won't refuse you.' 
 
 ' All right,' replied the big man ; ' consider it 
 done.' 
 
A LEADING LADY 129 
 
 Men like Edward Brewster never allow the grass 
 to grow under their feet, and long before the Satur- 
 day dawned the hard-headed busmess-manager had 
 made all the necessary arrangements for the little 
 dinner-party. 
 
 When Sybil Collier came downstairs to breakfast 
 on the Saturday, she found among her correspond- 
 ence the following polite invitation from the spider 
 to walk into his parlour : 
 
 ' My dear Miss Collier, 
 
 * Will you honour me with your company at 
 dinner on Sunday next at eight o'clock at my 
 rooms, No. 580, Strand '? I have asked Mr. Miller 
 to favour me by accompanying you. Besides Mr. 
 Miller, Mr. Eandolph Watson, and myself, you will 
 meet Mr. and Mrs. Horace Grantham, Mr. Charles 
 Smailey, and Miss Piose Wentholme. So, you see, 
 it will be quite a professional little party, in which 
 you will feel yourself thoroughly at home. 
 ' With kindest regards, 
 
 ' Your sincere admirer, 
 
 ' Edw'ard Brewster.' 
 
 Mr. Horace Grantham was one of the oldest and 
 most respected actors alive. In fact he was so old 
 
 9 
 
I30 A LEADING LADY 
 
 tliat he was partly blind and quite deaf ; but his 
 name was a power in the profession, and pro- 
 nounced with the reverence due to a distinguished 
 past. Mrs. Grantham, also formerly an actress 
 of high attainments, was fully thirty years her 
 husband's junior, and she was a scandal-monger of 
 established reputation. Miss Eose Wentholme, a 
 fair comedienne, who efficiently hid at least fifty 
 summers behind an artistic shield of powder and 
 paint, considered herself the arbiter of proprieties 
 in matters socio- theatrical. Woe to the misguided 
 lady who committed an act of imprudence in Miss 
 Wentholme' s presence or to Miss Wentholme' s 
 knowledge. Her character was thrice slain 
 before she was aware of it. Mr. Charles Smailey 
 was the author of the piece which had made the 
 fortune of the Charing Cross Theatre. He was a 
 quiet, unpretentious man, who spoke but little and 
 harmed nobody. His invitation was an especial 
 sop to the Cerberus of respectability and propriety. 
 Nobody could possibly object to Sybil Collier's 
 accepting an invitation to such a party. Her 
 character could certainly not suffer in going to it ; 
 whether it would live after the function was over 
 was another and a more delicate question. 
 
A LEADING LADY 131 
 
 Sybil had in the meantime tried hard to steel 
 herself against the blandishments of the handsome 
 manager, and to nerve herself for the after all not 
 too terrible future when she ^Y0uld become the wife 
 of a very rich, very honest, and not vei'y pre- 
 possessing gentleman ^Yho loved her very much, 
 and whom she really wished to love if she were 
 able. She could not help liking Herbert Miller ; 
 he was so fond of her, so lavish of his gifts ; he 
 would have slain dragons in her cause. But she 
 would have by far preferred to have Herbert Miller 
 for a kind, devoted, loving brother, and Randolph 
 Watson for a husband, leaving kindness and devo- 
 tion to the chances that might sprmg from the 
 womb of time. She did her best not to show to her 
 lover that another man's picture over and over 
 again shaped itself before her dreammg eyes, and 
 in all but these passing thoughts she was loyal and 
 true to Herbert Miller and to the promise she had 
 given him. 
 
 With all that, the pleasure she found in llan- 
 dolph Watson's society increased as the days wore 
 on. There was a magic, delicious contagion in his 
 touch which fired her and made her sigh. Would 
 to heaven, she would say to herself, that he might 
 
 9—2 
 
133 A LEADING LADY 
 
 be given to her as her Hfe's partner ! But with the 
 same heartbeat she would cry ' shame ' against 
 herself, and her truth and faith always remained 
 victorious. 
 
 Brewster's letter left her in a sad state of doubt. 
 How annoying ! Brewster was evidently unaware 
 that Miller had gone to Liverpool. Would he 
 expect her to go without Miller ? Could she go 
 without Miller ? Ought she to go without Miller ? 
 
 Her mother, appealed to on the subject, eased 
 Sybil's mind. 
 
 * Mr. and Mrs. Horace Grantham,' said the old 
 lady, * are most respectable, and Miss Wentholme 
 would not go to any entertainment where she would 
 be likely to meet doubtful people. Besides these, 
 there are only your manager and his partner and 
 Mr. Smailey. You can go there in perfect pro- 
 priety, my child, and Herbert will have no reason 
 to disapprove the step.' 
 
 Ah ! but the good, kind lady did not know what 
 it meant to Sybil to meet her manager in the 
 intercourse of private life without the protecting 
 presence of her lover. She did not dream how 
 much her daughter was afraid of her manager, and 
 how afraid she was of herself. 
 
A LEADING LADY 133 
 
 Sybil sent no reply to the note, but preferred to 
 wait until she came to the theatre at night. She 
 was more than half inclined not to go. She had 
 never, since she had known Herbert Miller, gone to 
 any party or entertainment without him, and 
 although on the present occasion the names of the 
 guests were ample defence against the sting of 
 scandal, she felt by no means sure of her own 
 strength of purpose when face to face, and perhaps 
 — who knew ? — for a moment alone with Randolph 
 Watson. What might not such a moment have in 
 store for her ? 
 
 The weather was vile all the day and that 
 evening — snow, fog and slush, and her coach- 
 man, whilst driving to the theatre, had several 
 narrow escapes from impending collisions, and 
 more than one word-battle with the drivers of other 
 vehicles. 
 
 Sybil was a nervous little woman, and hated 
 these scenes, and in the result arrived at her dress- 
 ing-room sorely out of temper. On her toilet-table 
 she found another note from Brewster pressing for 
 an answer to his invitation. 
 
 ' What a worry that man is !' she said to herself, 
 pulling off hor gloves and tli rowing them on the 
 
134 A LEADING LADY 
 
 console slab in front of her. 'I'll give him his 
 answer, since he is so pressing.' 
 
 * My dear Mr. Brewster/ she wrote, ' I do not 
 feel very well, and am out of sorts. I should have 
 been glad to accept your invitation, if Mr. Miller 
 had been here to accompany me ; but I don't like 
 to go alone. I hope you will have a very nice and 
 enjoyable party, and that you will not miss the 
 company of yours sincerely, Sybil Collier.' 
 
 She gave the missive to her dresser with instruc- 
 tions to take it to the business-manager's office. 
 
 That being over, she sat herself down in her 
 easy-chair and began to think that she was rather 
 glad to be relieved of the trouble of going to the 
 party. 
 
 ' I would not have refused him if I had not been 
 out of temper,' she said to herself ; ' but now that 
 it's done I'm glad.' 
 
 She was not, however, left long in the enjoyment 
 of the satisfaction given her by that fresh illusion. 
 She had taken off her walking- dress, and assumed 
 the loose wrapper in which she attired herself 
 during the process of making up, when a discreet 
 knock was heard at the door, and a voice, which 
 
A LEADING LADY 135 
 
 she recognised as Kanclolph Watson's, asked 
 softly : 
 
 ' May I come in, Miss Collier, please ?' 
 
 In ans^Yel• to her ' yes,' the manager stepped into 
 the room. 
 
 ' What's this I hear, my dear Miss Collier ?' he 
 said. ' Brewster is so disappointed. His party 
 will be quite spoiled, and the poor man has got it 
 up specially in your honour. He feels quite hurt, 
 and he cannot guess what made you refuse.' 
 
 ' But, my dear Mr. Watson,' replied Sybil, ' I 
 can't go without Mr. Miller, surely.' 
 
 ' And why not, pray ?' he retorted. ' What 
 difference can Mr. Miller's presence make to you in 
 company with such people as Mr. and Mrs. Horace 
 Grantham and Miss Wentholme. With these good 
 ladies as chaperones, you surely need not be 
 afraid.' 
 
 ' I really don't want to go, Mr. Watson,' she 
 replied peevishly ; ' and I would much rather 
 not go.' 
 
 ' Not even if I asked you to go '?' he pleaded. 
 
 He was standing at her back, but her face was 
 reflected in the mirror in front of her, and ho could 
 thus look into her eyes. 
 
136 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ' Not if I asked yon to go ?' he repeated. 
 
 ' And ^Yhy should yon ^Yish me to go ?' she m- 
 quired. 
 
 ' That's a curious question,' he retorted, ' Miss 
 Collier. To begin ^Yith, the pleasure I feel in your 
 society should be my sufficient reason, but I ask it 
 also as a favour to my hard-working partner, who 
 has done all he could to further your success.' 
 
 ' And if I still decline ?' she asked. 
 
 ' If you still declined, I should say,' he con- 
 tinued, ' that you refused to go because you refused 
 to meet me, and I should feel very much grieved 
 indeed.' 
 
 She turned round and looked him in the face. 
 Her eyes brightened with their native witchery, and 
 she burst into a merry silvery laugh. 
 
 ' What an awfully serious affair you are making 
 out of this whole business ! One might think it 
 w^ere a function of state. Well, my lord, j^our 
 lordship's wishes shall be obeyed. You can tell 
 Mr. Brewster that I will come.' 
 
YIII. 
 
 Messrs. Waller, Meecha:^! and Co., the fashion- 
 able upholsterers, decorators and furniture dealers, 
 \Yere the contractors for their class of work of the 
 Eoyal Charing Cross Theatre, and they had in the 
 short space of three days done ^Yonders in the 
 plainly-furnished and disorderly apartment occu- 
 pied by Mr. Edward Brewster. The dingy and 
 time-soiled hangings had been carried to the store- 
 garret under the roof, and soft carpets, sumptuous 
 rugs, warm-coloured curtains and costly furniture 
 took the place of the plainer articles that had long 
 served for Brewster's uses. The business-manager 
 liad paid fifty pounds for the hire for a month of 
 about a thousand pounds' worth of furniture, hold- 
 ing out to the firm the prospect of a prol)able 
 eventual purchase of the things, and Messrs. 
 AValler had, in addition to that, lent liim for the 
 occasion, without charge, a iunnl)or of ulegant 
 
138 A LEADING LADY 
 
 clocks and candelabra, valuable vases and excellent 
 pictures, which made his rooms look quite like the 
 home of a wealthy bachelor. The confectioners 
 had supplied all the necessary glass, linen, china 
 and plate, and although the experienced diner 
 about town, and especially about the outskirts of 
 society, might have recognised the ubiquitous, 
 staid, w'hite-haired butler, and the suave and noise- 
 less, softly-spoken waiter who had been in the 
 fashionable pastrycook's service for many years, it 
 was quite certain that Sybil, at least, would not for 
 a moment guess that all this parade of comfort and 
 gloss was only temporary and made for her 
 especial behoof. 
 
 Sybil discovered quickly that the two highly 
 respectable ladies who adorned Brewster's hospit- 
 able board by their presence would afford her but 
 small protection against Eandolph Watson's arti- 
 fices, if her own good sense did not help her. Mrs. 
 Horace Grantham had fastened upon Brew^ster, 
 and by a process of persistent delicate probing ex- 
 tracted from the big man a great stock of stories 
 and incidents relating to members of the profession, 
 which were destined to replenish her armoury of 
 scandal, and to keep it in going order for weeks 
 
A LEADING LADY 139 
 
 at least. Miss Wentholme, the preliminary cour- 
 tesies being over, sat open-mouthed at the feet 
 of unwilling Gamaliel, Charles Smailey, worrying 
 the good, modestly-minded man to distraction 
 nearly by grandiloquent compliments about his 
 work, and l)y questions about this phrase or that, 
 discovering subtle meanings of which the author 
 himself had never dreamed. Mr. Horace Grant- 
 ham, directly after dinner, had stretched himself 
 with expanded legs in a big arm-chair, and lay with 
 gaping mouth and closed eyes, breathing gently in 
 the soothing embrace of Morpheus. 
 
 Hence it came that Sybil was thrown upon the 
 society of Randolph Watson, whether she liked it 
 or nay. In sober truth, she had taken a speedy 
 dislike to the two volul)le chatterers. When 
 Brewster asked the ladies whether they did not 
 desire to retire to the drawing-room, both Mrs. 
 Grantham and Miss Wentholme protested that they 
 did not mind the smell of smoke at all, and would 
 much rather remain in the pleasant company in 
 which they found themselves. 
 
 ' Do you wish to stay here also. Miss Collier ?' 
 asked Watson ; ' or do you object to smoke?' 
 
 Syl)il felt a twinge of annoyance. These ladies 
 
I40 A LEADING LADY 
 
 had taken upon themselves to snub her. It ^Yas 
 their duty to escort then- younger companion to the 
 drawing-room, and here they declined the task 
 without further ado, and with a Bohemian non- 
 chalance for which Sybil had given them no excuse. 
 The girl's pride rebelled. 
 
 ' Thank you, Mr. Watson,' she said ; ' I think I 
 will go to the drawing-room. You will come, of 
 course, Mrs. Grantham,' she added, with a look of 
 appeal. 
 
 * We will be there in a few minutes, my dear,' 
 replied the old lady, whom Brewster made desperate 
 efforts to detain by his most spicy scandal. ' We 
 will join you directly. But I do not want to lose 
 this excellent story. Please do go on, Mr. Brew- 
 ster.' 
 
 Smailey would have been glad to get rid, if only 
 for a moment, of Miss Wentholme ; but he w^as an 
 inveterate smoker, and without his weed after dinner 
 he could not do. Of two evils, that of foregoing his 
 cigar or tolerating Miss Wentholme, he chose the 
 less. 
 
 ' Don't let me keep you, my child,' said Miss 
 Wentholme patronizingly. ' I will come when Mr. 
 Smailey has finished his cigar. But before that I 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 141 
 
 want one or two more explanations about his 
 glorious piece.' 
 
 Eandolph Watson had selected Brewster's guests 
 with excellent judgment, and everything had passed 
 naturally and of its own accord as he had planned 
 it. Sybil gave him her arm in a silent disdain, 
 and they passed out of the dining-room. 
 
 Now, it had been a portion of Eandolph Watson's 
 plan to have two rooms furnished as drawing-rooms 
 — one to be the real reception-chamber, to which 
 Brewster would conduct his guests, and another, a 
 little smaller, but even a more cosily-furnished 
 room, which was reserved for the especial pur- 
 pose of entrapping Sybil. The actual drawing- 
 room was quite at the end of a passage, and the 
 other — the door covered by heavy velvet curtains — 
 was situated between it and the dining-room. 
 Watson conducted the unsuspecting girl to the 
 gilded trap he had prepared for her. 
 
 ' I am sorry now that I asked Brewster to invite 
 Mrs. Grantham and Miss Wentholme,' he said. 
 ' They are so selfish. It would have been far jollier 
 to have a couple of lively girls than these two ladies.' 
 
 * I wish Mr. Miller were here,' sighed Sybil in a 
 tone of impatience. 
 
142 A LEADING LADY 
 
 Watson had seated himself m front of her on one 
 of those low, square, softlv-cushioned seats ^Yhich 
 modern upholsterers fashion. 
 
 ' Do you really ?' he asked, his big eyes aglow 
 with a passionate longing which half frightened the 
 girl. 
 
 She looked about the room as if afraid of a sur- 
 prise. Eich velvet hangings covered every opening, 
 and prevented the penetration of sound. She was 
 determined, however, to show to him that she felt 
 herself strong enough to resist his advances. 
 
 ' I do, indeed,' she said, in a voice of banter. 
 ' Would you not have been glad to have him 
 here ?' 
 
 ' I like our friend Herbert Miller exceedingly,' 
 replied the manager ; ' and I am always glad to 
 see him — nearly always,' he corrected himself. 
 ' But ' — there was a slight pause in his speech, as 
 if emotion were preventing utterance— ' in this 
 instance I am happy to know he is away.' 
 
 This was just what she had dreaded ; and she 
 had allowed herself to be alone with him, knowing 
 that she dreaded it. She had been all through the 
 dmner in a hot anxiety that she might not be thus 
 left with Randolph Watson, and yet she herself 
 
A LEADING LADY 143 
 
 luid deliberately walked into the privacy, the still 
 solitude, of this heavily-tapestried apartment with 
 him. 
 
 For a moment, and a moment only, she felt 
 inclined to rise and rush out of the room, but the 
 instant afterwards an impulse about her heart, 
 mysterious and inexplicable, restrained her. 
 
 Watson placed his low seat closer to her. 
 
 ' Do you know,' he said, with the air of manly 
 honesty he knew well how to assume, ' that I have 
 a confession to make to you ?' 
 
 * A confession ?' she echoed. 
 
 * Yes, a confession,' he repeated ; ' and a full and 
 ample apology — then perhaps you will grant me 
 absolution.' 
 
 His gaze was so frank, so earnest, that she 
 repented of her former intentions. She had always 
 found pleasure in his society, and now the delicious 
 sensation engendered by his near presence thrilled 
 her whole being. 
 
 'Tell me the offence,' she breathed, nearly 
 tremulously, ' and I will try to be lenient.' 
 
 ' I have to confess,' Watson went on, possessing 
 himself of her little hand in the meantime, ' that I 
 have schemed, and plotted, and planned for days 
 
144 ^ LEADING LADY 
 
 past, and all the hours of this present day, to be for 
 a few moments alone with you.' 
 
 The danger was approaching. It was there — but 
 she no longer dreaded it. It was a sweet, a 
 luscious, a voluptuous terror — a fragrant, soul-en- 
 trancing, heart- enwrapping peril — which deadened 
 her senses to all but the redolent presence of the 
 man who to her seemed so handsome as to dash 
 every other picture, every thought of another, from 
 her mind. 
 
 She remained silent, with blushing face and 
 drooping eyes. He had not hoped for such an easy 
 opening of the battle. 
 
 ' Yes,' he continued, ' it is part of a plan that 
 you are here alone with me at this moment. I 
 confess the guilt of it, and, you see, hardened sinner 
 that I am, I glory in my shame.' 
 
 He had sunk on one knee before her, and pressed 
 her little rosy-tipped fingers. 
 
 ' I have schemed,' he went on, amid her unre- 
 proving silence, ' because I love you — because I 
 burned to tell you that I love you — because for 
 this one moment I would gladly give years.' 
 
 ' Ah ! to how many women have you said exactly 
 the same words ?' she asked, still leaving her hand 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 145 
 
 ^Yitllin his. ' And how many have beHcved you 
 and repented then* behef !' 
 
 She had not repelled him. She had not risen in 
 anger and reproach. Victory was sure. 
 
 'I have spoken to none,' he answered warmly, 'as 
 I am speakmg to you now. I know what you mean, 
 and I will not make you believe that I have lived 
 the life of a monk, of a hermit, or a saint. It would 
 be foolish, and it would be untrue, and I respect 
 you too highly to deceive you. But I have never 
 loved a woman as I love you ; I have never felt 
 for a woman the unalterable devotion I feel for 
 ,you.' 
 
 She turned her face aside in the delightful 
 tremor of new consciousness. How often had 
 Herl3ert Miller spoken to her of his love, of his 
 great and honest love ! Yet, though she knew that 
 he loved her truly. Miller's homely phraseology had 
 always made her smile and titter. But Piandolph 
 Watson's words stabbed themselves upon her heart 
 with a voluptuous pain, and her soul was bare and 
 hungry for the welcome torture. 
 
 * And if I were to believe you,' she breathed in 
 reply, ' if I were fooUsh enough to credit the truth 
 of a word you have said, v.'hat then ?' 
 
 10 
 
146 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ' What then ?' he repeated, whilst his free arm 
 shpped softly around her ^Yaist, and she resisted 
 him not ; ' then ^Ye might be so happy.' 
 
 ' Happy !' she sighed. ' Happiness is so often 
 spoken about, and so seldom found. It is rarely 
 detained long. A woman loves ; a man thinks, or 
 makes believe, that he loves. It is conquest for the 
 man, sacrifice for the woman. Ah, don't try to 
 deceive me, to throw dust into my eyes ! When the 
 first hot rush of passion is over, and critical judg- 
 ment takes the place of boundless admiration, so 
 few of us women can bear the brunt of a cold- 
 hearted scrutiny.' 
 
 ' I should love you for ever, dearest,' he answered. 
 ' I am free. You can be free if you like.' 
 
 ' If I like !' she sighed. ' Poor Herbert !' 
 
 For the first time during this scene her fancy 
 pictured to her her uncouth, honest, noble-hearted, 
 trustful lover. Watson's arm was about her waist, 
 her hand was in his, her eyes were peering into his. 
 For a mere second the accusing vision flashed and 
 gleamed, and then was gone. 
 
 Watson drew her towards him. Her face flushed, 
 her eyes sparkled, her bosom heaved, and her lips 
 trembled. She felt her heart beat in a wild tumult. 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 147 
 
 and her limbs shook in a riot of self-abandonment. 
 "What might have happened she knew not, when on 
 a sudden the outer hanging of the door was pushed 
 aside, and 'Miss Wentholme's strident voice reached 
 Sybil's ears. 
 
 ' For goodness' sake !' Miss Propriety was crying, 
 ' where can Miss Collier be ?' 
 
 ' Look in here,' answered Mrs. Horace Grantham. 
 ' Perhaps she is in this room,' and the moment 
 afterwards the two ladies entered. 
 
 * Goodness gracious !' exclaimed Miss Wentholme, 
 ' here she is, to be sure — and alone with Mr. Watson 
 —and ' 
 
 The good lady looked at Sybil's flushed face, and 
 interrupted herself in a mute, pious, and horrified 
 inquiry. 
 
 ' We have been looking for you all over the 
 place,' said Mrs. Grantham, with a cold hauteur. 
 ' Why did you not go into the drawing-room ?' 
 
 ' It is perhaps more cosy here,' sneered Miss 
 Wentholme, and the two ladies sailed out like 
 embodiments of frigid disapproving disdain. 
 
 Sybil had risen, her eyes aglow with anger. 
 
 ' What is the meaning of this ?' she asked. ' Is 
 this not the drawing-room ?' 
 
 10—2 
 
148 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ' It is a dra^Ying-^oom,' replied Watson ; ' but there 
 is another — a httle farther on in the passage.' 
 
 ' You said you schemed for this,' said Sybil 
 bitterly ; ' I can see now that you spoke truly.' 
 
 ' And what need you care ? What need we care ?' 
 he rejoined. ' Let these old women think what 
 they like.' 
 
 ' That is all very well for you,' she answered. ' I 
 would gladly let them think what they like. But 
 they will say what they like, and I care a great deal 
 about that.' 
 
 ' We have done no wrong,' he retorted. ' They 
 can say that we have been here alone. Well, what 
 crime is there in that ?' 
 
 She had recovered her self-possession, and 
 defiantly shook her fair head. 
 
 ' I don't care, after all,' she said. ' If they had 
 not discovered something to talk about, they would 
 have invented it. So in the end there will be no 
 difference. But now, Mr. W^atson, if you please, 
 we will go into the drawing-room — the real drawing- 
 room.' 
 
 He retained her gently. 
 
 * May I hope ?' he asked. 
 
 * Everybody may hope,' she replied, with a 
 
A LEADING LADY 149 
 
 laugh. ' Dark is the hour when hope is taken 
 from us.' 
 
 ' Don't speak hke that,' he pleaded. ' I ask for 
 so little. May / hope ?' 
 
 She breathed an airy ' Perhaps ! Who knows ?' 
 and slipped away from him. 
 
 When she reached the drawing-room, it was 
 empty. Brewster and Smailey were still puffing 
 away at their cigars when she opened the door of 
 the dining-room, but the two ladies and the old 
 actor were gone. 
 
 The first person to whom Mrs. Horace Grantham 
 confided the story of Sybil Collier's brazen conduct 
 was Miss Northcote. Miss Northcote agreed with 
 Mrs. Horace Grantham that it was certain that 
 Sybil was no better than she should be, and that it 
 was a shocking thing that that true-hearted, noble- 
 minded Mr. Miller should be so deceived. Would 
 it not be right to inform Mr. Miller '? Of course, 
 neither of the ladies cared to carry scandal from 
 one door to the other ; but it was a shame, a bitter 
 shame, and Mr. Miller so kind to her. What 
 would she have done without him ? In fact, 
 when they came to think of it, what would the 
 treacherous Watson have done without him ? 
 
I50 • A LEADING LADY 
 
 The second person whom Mrs. Horace Grantham 
 mformed of the occm-rence at Brewster's chambers 
 was Herbert Miller's friend, Barnaby Walker. 
 Walker was a man of common-sense, and had 
 moved long enough in theatrical circles to appre- 
 ciate Mrs. Horace Grantham's small talk at its 
 proper value. He laughed, and thereby seriously 
 annoyed the good lady, who roundly asserted that 
 it was not at all a laughing matter. He ought to 
 tell Herbert Miller. Barnaby W^alker inwardly 
 vowed that he would see Mrs. Horace Grantham in 
 Jericho first ; but he did not conceal his opinion that 
 it was just like Watson to try and seduce a friend's 
 sweetheart, and so hackneyed an occurrence that 
 it was really not worth reporting. 
 
 Now, Mrs. Horace Grantham had been strictly 
 accurate and truthful in her statements. She had 
 exaggerated nothing in actual description, neither 
 had she omitted aught that could w^eigh against 
 Sybil. Barnaby Walker also, his poetic imagina- 
 tion notwithstanding, was an ordinarily truthful 
 person, and far from a tittle-tattler. Miss North- 
 cote was a stern and uncompromising advocate of 
 the moral status of the profession, and with Miss 
 Wentholme, whom she had occasion to see in the 
 
A LEADING LADY 151 
 
 course of the day, agreed that the facts were so 
 deploral)le, that it would have resembled the paint- 
 ing of the lily to attempt to varnish them by ex- 
 planation. 
 
 It nevertheless came about that a rumour went 
 the round of the theatres and clubs on the following 
 evening that Sybil had quarrelled with and thrown 
 over Herbert Miller, and was "Watson's acknow- 
 ledged mistress. Precise details were readily forth- 
 coming. Sybil had been discovered, so said 
 kindly report, by Herbert Miller in Watson's rooms. 
 Herbert had charged the young lady with treachery, 
 and she had laughed in his face. Miller, to avenge 
 himself, said a further rumour, had taken up with 
 and was about to marry Miss Northcote and to 
 build a theatre for her ; but this part of the story 
 was generally voted unreliable and discredited. 
 
 When the unsuspecting Miller arrived in town, 
 and went to lunch at his club, he was immediately 
 assailed with condolences, congratulations and 
 (juestions. They were so sorry ; she was such a 
 nice, In'ight, clever girl ; and they had thought she 
 was very fond of him indeed. But after all he was 
 Ijest rid of her. A girl who was engaged to one 
 man, and then went alone to another man's 
 
152 A LEADING LADY 
 
 chambers, was not worth grievmg about. There 
 were as good fish m the sea as ever came out of it, 
 and tliere were plenty of women in the world quite 
 as handsome and as nice as Sybil Collier. But 
 how did it all come about ? How did he surprise 
 them ? Why didn't he give the fellow a hiding ? 
 What did he intend to do? They hoped he 
 wouldn't make a fool of himself. 
 
 Miller at first thought the whole thing a joke got 
 up for his especial discomfiture. Wlien he was 
 told of the site he had selected for the theatre he 
 was about to build for Miss Northcote, he enjoyed 
 the humour of the affair hugely, and even went so 
 far as for a while to join in the sport by a farce of 
 corroboration. He soon perceived, however, that, 
 in spite of the exaggerations and embellishments, 
 there was some foundation of fact for the origin of 
 the story. Frank and manly as he was, he 
 attempted not to beat about the bush, but went 
 straight to Sybil's house. 
 
 Sybil had passed a heavy, sleepless night. She 
 w^as out of temper with herself for having allowed 
 herself to fall into a kind of trap ; she was out of 
 temper with Watson for having set the trap and 
 having caught her, a willing game, in his snare ; 
 
A LEADING LADY 153 
 
 she was out of temper with Miller for having gone 
 away and left her exposed to such danger. Thus 
 unreasonable is pretty woman when she can find 
 no satisfactory reason for her conduct. 
 
 Kind friends had brought her faithful and glow- 
 ing reports of all the rumours that were flashing 
 about the town concerning her and Watson. The 
 same kind friends, out of friendship of course, had 
 concealed nothing, and Miss Sybil's ire had been 
 kindled to a fierce glow when she heard of the 
 monstrous stories that were told about her. There 
 was just enough of guilty blush upon her cheek to 
 make the accusations appear dastardly to her. 
 The retailers of scandal could not have dealt worse 
 by her, if the charge had been true. And at odd 
 moments she was half sorry that it was untrue. 
 
 For these reasons Herbert Miller, calling to ask 
 for explanations, was likely to pass a bad quarter 
 of an hour. He was, indeed, skating upon the 
 thinnest of ice. 
 
IX. 
 
 ' I HAVE come, my dear girl,' said Miller, after the 
 young lady had, with anything but a good grace, 
 allowed him to press a kiss upon her cheek, ' to ask 
 if you know that people are spreading some curious 
 reports about you ?' 
 
 ' Do I know ?' exclaimed the young lady, rising 
 from the seat she had just taken. ' Don't I know ?' 
 Her eyes glistened, and she bit her lips and 
 clenched her little hands. ' Where have you been 
 that you have only just discovered that the 
 wretches have been saying things about me ?' 
 
 ' You know very well,' replied Miller, taken aback 
 by this tempestuous reception, ' that I have only 
 to-day returned from Liverpool.' 
 
 ' Then why did you not return before ?' fumed 
 Sybil. ' Why did you leave me here alone to be 
 exposed to all sorts of scandal ?' 
 
 * I came back the moment I was able,' returned 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 155 
 
 Herbert, trying to pour oil upon the troubled 
 waters. ' I found Brewster's letter at my chambers 
 this morning, and I suppose it has something to do 
 with that. But they say that you went to Watson's 
 rooms.' 
 
 * They said that to you!' cried the young lady 
 furiously. ' And what did you reply '?' 
 
 ' I — I — ' stammered Miller, not at all relishing 
 
 the turn affairs were taking — ' I ' 
 
 ' Yes, you !' hissed Miss Sybil. ' You! what did 
 you say when they told you this ?' 
 
 The eyeglass dropped from its accustomed nook 
 and would not be replaced. The long fingers 
 fumbled anxiously, and Miller wished heartily he 
 had stayed in Liverpool or anywhere without pro- 
 voking this scene. 
 
 * You have not lost your tongue, surely,' con- 
 tinued the lady. ' "When you heard them say such 
 things about me, what did you reply ?' 
 
 ' What could I reply?' was the ambiguous answer. 
 ' What could you reply ?' echoed Sybil with a 
 sneer. 
 
 ' You see, I didn't know,' said the young man 
 in a feeble effort of pacification. 
 
 ' Of course you did not know,' cried the girl in a 
 
156 A LEADING LADY 
 
 hot rage. ' How could I expect you to know ? 
 You heard men make such dastardly statements 
 about me, and you did not tell them to then' faces 
 that they lied.' 
 
 ' Is it not true, then, my dear ?' inquired Miller 
 tremblingly. 
 
 ' What is not true ?' 
 
 ' You did not go to Watson's rooms ?' 
 
 ' Mr. Miller,' answered Sybil coldly and 
 haughtily, ' you have pretended to love me. Love 
 means confidence ; love means devotion. You 
 have dared to ask me an impertinent and insulting 
 question. Get 3^our answer where you obtained 
 your information ;' and without another word she 
 flashed from the room, leaving the poor fellow 
 speechless with amazement, perplexed in mind, 
 and sore at heart. 
 
 Miller called the maidservant, and sent her with 
 a humble message to her mistress imploring Sybil 
 to return. 
 
 The girl came back with the answer that Miss 
 Collier was unw^ell, and did not wish to have any- 
 thing more to say to Mr. Miller. 
 
 Herbert sat down at the little bureau and 
 penned a short note. 
 
A LEADING LADY 157 
 
 ' Forgive me, my dear,' he wrote. ' I really did 
 
 not mean to say anything to offend 3'ou, and I am 
 
 very sorry indeed if I have said anything to pain 
 
 you. Do come do^Yn, if only to say a word ; there's 
 
 a good, kind girl. Your fond 
 
 ' Hekbeiit.' 
 
 The scrap was brought back to him with the 
 following line in Sybil's handwriting written 
 across it : 
 
 'I judge people by their acts, not by their 
 words.' 
 
 There was nothing left but to go. He did so 
 with a heavy heart. His straightforward endeavour 
 to sift the apparently wicked story to the bottom 
 had resulted in disaster, and he knew as little about 
 the truth or untruth of it as before. 
 
 He drove back to the West-End in a cold and 
 painful stolidity. 
 
 ' I've put my foot into it with a vengeance,' he 
 said to himself, ' and how to get out of it I don't 
 know. What did she expect me to say ? I couldn't 
 say it wasn't true if I didn't know.' 
 
 In his simplicity of heart he did not conceive 
 
158 A LEADING LADY 
 
 that Sybil expected him to be her unquestioning 
 champion in the face of her mahgners. He was 
 neither briUiant in his imaginings nor enthusiastic 
 in his actions, though he was given to dashing off 
 at extraordinary angles ^Yhen the slow-working 
 machinery of his cerebration was set in sudden 
 motion. It never struck him that the young 
 lady expected him to repel the charge against 
 her, if not with lance and shield like a preux 
 chevalier of old, at least by chastisement of the 
 slanderers. 
 
 He strolled into the smoking-room of the Kemble 
 Club. A heated discussion was going on at the 
 moment among a little knot of members standing 
 around the fireiDlace. Miller recognised Spencer 
 Greetley, a prematurely aged young man about 
 town, as one of the disputants, and the other was 
 Eandolph Watson. A chill and uncomfortable 
 sensation crept over him, an expectation of some- 
 thing disagreeable, and he sat down on the leather- 
 cushioned seat in the corner, apparently quite 
 unperceived by anybody. 
 
 * By what right,' Watson was saying, * do you 
 state that Miss Collier w^ent to my rooms ?' 
 
 ' I was told so,' replied Greetley. 
 
A LEADING LADY 159 
 
 ' That is no excuse and no proof,' Watson went 
 on. 'I demand to know your authority for the 
 statement.' 
 
 ' I've told you,' answered the other, ' and I'm 
 going to say no more about it.' 
 
 'Oh, indeed!' retorted the manager. 'You 
 spread a slandering story about a young lady whom 
 you do not even know, and you think j^ou are going 
 to get away like this. I want to know who told 
 you that Miss Collier went to my rooms.' 
 
 'I know it,' retorted Greetley savagely, 'and that 
 is sufficient for me and for you too.' 
 
 Watson drew back a step. 
 
 ' You lie, you cur !' he cried. ' Take that !' 
 
 His fist shot out like a tiash, and Greetley went 
 spinning against the mantelpiece. The infuriated 
 Watson was in the act of strikmg again, when he 
 was pinioned from behind and held powerless, 
 while his adversary, with bleeding nose and mouth, 
 rose slowdy, and scowled about him with an air of 
 stupid astonishment. 
 
 ' Let me go ! Let me get at him !' cried "Watson, 
 ai)parently losing all self-control. ' Til kill the 
 lying hound ! I'll smash hhn !' 
 
 The assaulted young man was dragged away by 
 
i6o A LEADING LADY 
 
 friends who thought discretion on his part by far 
 the better part of valour. 
 
 Miller was sitting in his corner like one dazed. 
 ' That's what I ought to have done,' he muttered 
 to himself. ' That's what I ought to have done 
 wdien they spoke about Sybil to me. She is right. 
 She is always right. What an ass I am ! And 
 what am I to do ?' 
 
 He walked to the fireplace and gripped Watson 
 by the hand. 
 
 * I am much obliged to you, Watson,' he said — 
 ' obliged and heartily grateful. I wish I had been 
 here earlier. I ought to have done w^hat you did.' 
 
 ' Don't mention it, my boy,' answered the 
 manager. ' I only did what any gentleman, any 
 man of heart would have done when he heard a 
 good young lady foully libelled. He can have me 
 up before the committee if he likes, or he can 
 make a police court affair of it if he chooses. I 
 don't mind either. Every man with a spark of 
 honour about him will say I was right.' 
 
 What will the reader say, w4iat will he think, 
 when I tell him that this scene of rage and passion 
 w^as, on Watson's part, in portion at least, cool, 
 coldblooded calculation and splendid acting? 
 
A LEADING LADY i6i 
 
 Watson had intended to bring the young slanderer 
 to book, but he would never have done it so 
 viciously and so violently if his quick glance had 
 not espied Herbert Miller ^Yalking slowly into the 
 room and creeping into his corner. The whole 
 scene was as studied, regarding effect, as if it had 
 been rehearsed, and as the lithe and wiry Watson 
 acted it con amove, no man alive could have dis- 
 tinguished the tinsel fury from a real one. 
 
 The scheme was working magnificently. Sybil 
 would hear of this, and would compare his hot 
 chivalry on her behalf with Herbert Miller's appa- 
 rent indifference. He had little doubt about the 
 result, although he was, of course, as yet unaware 
 of the young lady's quarrel with her lover. 
 
 That evening Miller strolled about the corridors 
 and passages and staircases of the theatre in the 
 hope of being able to speak a word of reconciliation 
 to Sybil. Twice she flashed past him like an 
 offended princess, haughty, disdainful and silent. 
 He waited about the wings ; he had his corns 
 trodden on and his shins barked by the scene- 
 shifters ; he nearly fell down the dark staircase 
 leading to the l)and-room ; he crept about the 
 green-room, comfortless, and not to be comforted. 
 
 11 
 
i62 A LEADING LADY 
 
 Sybil evidently avoided him purposely, and he was 
 unable to cudgel his brains to discover what kind 
 of expiation would be likely to appease the anger 
 of her whom he loved so well. 
 
 The cunning Watson had in the meantime taken 
 care that Sybil should be duly informed about the 
 one-sided battle he had fought in her defence. 
 The voluble and devoted Masters gave to Sybil's 
 dresser a glowing account of the dangers his em- 
 ployer had faced in the cause of the fair lady. 
 
 ' That young Greetley,' explained the good 
 Masters, ' said that Miss Collier had been to the 
 governor's rooms. And the governor said she 
 hadn't. And young Greetley said she had. And 
 the governor said he was a liar, and he upped with 
 his fist and hit him on the boko. And then there 
 was a great shindy, but the governor wiped up the 
 floor with him, and young Greetley' s face was a 
 sight to see. And the governor says he don't mind 
 what comes of it. He'd do it again to-morrow for 
 Miss Collier, and more if need be. He's a brick, 
 the governor is, isn't he ?' 
 
 Watson was a hero now, a faithful loyal knight 
 to her, and MiUer became mean and contemptible 
 in her eyes. He had not only not stirred in her 
 
A LEADING LADY 163 
 
 defence, but had actually doubted her, and had 
 dared to question her about his doubts. 
 
 The \Yorst sting of it all \vas that a tiny, weeny 
 voice within her at odd moments whispered words 
 of reproach. Was she so pure thus to challenge 
 the humble faith of her honest, if not too enthu- 
 siastic lover ? Was there not a speck of tarnish 
 upon the hands she professed so clean ? Was she 
 altogether guiltless ? It was just this spice of self- 
 accusation that increased her anger against Miller. 
 She had not been altogether true to him, and in 
 her womanly irritation she was nearly sorry that 
 she had not been less true to him. She had been 
 made to feel the sting of scandal without what 
 appeared to her sufficient cause. 
 
 With his heart bubbling over with trouble. Miller 
 went for advice to his disinterested friend Brewster. 
 
 If Sybil Collier's reputation had by this time 
 required a process of whitewashing to Herbert 
 Miller's mind, the business-manager's statements 
 of the case in a nutshell, as he called it, would 
 have been certainly of themselves sufficient. When 
 Brewster had finished his account of the ' simple 
 and innocent affair,' which was the sole basis of all 
 this scandal. Miller began to look upon himself as 
 
 11—2 
 
1 64 A LEADING LADY 
 
 a wicked, foolish, and most justly punished young 
 man. Sybil became more than ever an incarnation 
 of purity to him, and he had not only misunder- 
 stood her, but had insulted her by his doubt, when 
 his faith should have been boundless. He prayed, 
 he begged his good friend to light him on to the 
 path of reconciliation. 
 
 Brewster shook his head gravely. 
 
 *You see, my dear boy,' he said, 'women are 
 such queer creatures. You never know how to 
 deal with them. What pleases one offends the 
 other.' 
 
 'But, old man, old man,' blubbered the heart- 
 broken lover, ' what am I do ? She won't see me. 
 She won't speak to me.' 
 
 ' I don't like to advise a man in a case of this 
 kind,' Brewster went on, shrugging his broad 
 shoulders, pursing his lips, and stroking his chin. 
 ' It's an ungrateful job — it's a most ungrateful 
 job. If it turns out all right, it's " no thanks to 
 you"; if if goes wrong, it's " all your fault." No, 
 thank you.' 
 
 ' Don't leave me in the hole, Brewster,' pleaded 
 Herbert. ' You've so much more experience with 
 women than I have. Tell me what am I to do ?' 
 
A LEADING LADY 165 
 
 ' To tell you the downright truth,' contmued the 
 ponderous man, 'I don't like to interfere in a 
 matter like this, and if anybody but you asked me, 
 I'd tell him to go somewhere else for advice. But 
 since it is you, and you ask me to help you, I'll tell 
 you what I would do in your place.' 
 
 ' And what's that '?' was the eager question. 
 
 ' I'd apply to her Bismarck's famous method with 
 the Parisians, I'd let her stew in her own gravy.' 
 
 Miller could not help smiling. The simile was 
 too drastic for his comprehension, and he caught 
 only its apparent vulgarity. 
 
 ' What do you mean ?' he asked. 
 
 ' I'd just let her fume and fret and be angry 
 until she gets to think better of it ; and in the 
 meantime I'd sit down and do nothing.' 
 
 ' What will that lead me to ?' 
 
 ' It'll bring her back to you of her own accord. 
 Let her imagine that you are offended in your turn, 
 and she'll soon think it time to bring you to her 
 feet again. Women always scorn that which is 
 thrust before them, and want that whicli they 
 miss. If you stay away from her for three or four 
 days, she'll get scared, and, mark my words, she'll 
 write to vou to conic' 
 
i66 A LEADING LADY 
 
 *Do yoiT really think so?' queried Miller, as- 
 tonished by so much worldly wisdom and brilliant 
 foresight. 
 
 ' Dead, downright certain, my boy,' retorted 
 Brewster enthusiastically. ' No doubt about it. 
 Only mind, I won't take any blame, whatever comes 
 of it. Turn it over in your mind, and do what yoit 
 think best, and not what I advise.' 
 
 Brewster's counsel seemed to Miller to embody 
 the perfection of shrewdness and sagacity. ' What 
 a judge of mankind and their foibles !' thought the 
 admiring Miller. ' He is a man of the world, and 
 he is right. I will follow his advice.' 
 
 His confidence in Brewster's soundness of judg- 
 ment notwithstanding, he did not find it very easy 
 to act according to the business-manager's counsel 
 even on the evening when it was given. He had 
 been accustomed to stroll about the theatre with 
 the assurance of a smile of welcome when Sybil's 
 bright eyes met his, and now he wandered about 
 the house as if all cheer and comfort had departed 
 from it and him. It was so hard to be so near her 
 and not be able to speak to her ; it was harder still 
 to pretend not to want to speak to her. He was no 
 great hand at pretending in any case, and this false 
 
A LEADING LADY 167 
 
 pretence, this affectation of nonchalance, when his 
 heart was full of seething emotion, left him numb 
 and chill. 
 
 When the theatre closed and the time came at 
 which he usually met Sybil at her dressing-room to 
 escort her to his brougham, he almost broke down 
 under the weight of his resolve. His brougham 
 was at the stage-door, waiting for him and Sybil. 
 Would she wait for him, or w^ould she use it herself 
 without him ? The coachman would obey her. He 
 hoped that she would go home in his brougham. 
 It would be a sign that the ice was thawing, and 
 perhaps she would ask the man to convey a message 
 to him. 
 
 He walked about the dress-circle corridor until 
 the lights were turned out, morose and glum. 
 Then he sat himself down on one of the long seats 
 in the darkness, and listened with hushed heart- 
 beat for Sybil's voice or footstep, which he hoped 
 to hear across the open pass-door. She usually 
 descended liy tlie adjoining staircase, and he 
 waited, and waited, and waited, but met w^ith no 
 audil)le sign of the woman he loved. The rustle of 
 a dress reached his ear, and quickened his pulse to 
 a feverish speed, but it was only a chorus-woman, 
 
i68 A LEADING LADY 
 
 belated beyond her time, who came down the prin- 
 cipal staircase. 
 
 The fireman going his rounds flashed his lantern 
 at him. 
 
 'Oh, it's you, Mr. Miller,' said the man. 'You 
 are not waiting for Miss Collier, are you ? because, 
 if you are, she's gone a good while ago.' 
 
 ' Gone ?' asked Miller. ' Are you sure ?' 
 
 ' Quite sure,' replied the man. ' She asked me 
 to call a cab for her, and she's gone away in 
 that.' 
 
 She had not gone away in his brougham; she 
 had not softened nor yielded a jot, and he felt so 
 heartsore and so low-spirited. Would he be able 
 to continue the fight ? Would he be strong enough 
 for this contest of endurance ? 
 
 He went to one of the fashionable restaurants, 
 and endeavoured to steady his nerves by draughts 
 from a magnum of champagne. A noisy, chatter- 
 ing crowd of young men about town and gaily- 
 dressed women filled the place, and some of them 
 spoke to him, and questioned him, and asked him 
 why he was alone, and why he came to the place. 
 
 He felt disgusted with himself for having gone 
 there at all, and blamed hmiself severely. What 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 169 
 
 would Sybil say when she had heard that he had 
 gone to one of the fashionable night restaurants ? 
 What excuse would he be able to offer ? And his 
 conscience answered ' None.' 
 
 From the restaurant he went to the club. The 
 talk was still about the disturbance of the after- 
 noon. And there again he was persecuted by 
 inquiries, by pretended consolations, by suggestions 
 of all kinds, of advice which he neither relished nor 
 heeded. He would have given anything in the 
 world had he been able to pick a quarrel with any- 
 body, and at that moment he would have proved a 
 dangerous customer to deal with. He swallowed 
 three glasses of whisky-and-water one after another 
 as quickly as he had drunk the champagne, and he 
 felt no steadier for that. His grief settled itself 
 around his heart like a cold and humid fog, and 
 dulled his understanding and his senses. A friend 
 challenged him to a game of billiards, and he leapt 
 at the offer with a sudden gladness. He would 
 have joyfully done anything for a change. He 
 played the game extremely well for an amateur, 
 and yet on this night he missed the balls so often 
 that he lost his temper with himself over that even, 
 and left the room disgusted and sad. His brougham 
 
I70 A LEADING LADY 
 
 was waiting for him at the door, and he drove 
 home hardly knowing what he was doing. 
 
 The morning's awakening brought no more 
 brightness than the preceding night had granted 
 him. He rushed at his letters as a famished man 
 might fly at a loaf that is held out to him, but 
 there was no note from Sybil among them. 
 
 *How many days am I to pass like this?' he said 
 to himself. ' Brewster may be right in the end, 
 but I shall not be able to stand it, I'm afraid ; and 
 what's more, I don't want to stand it. It would 
 kill me before I got it over.' 
 
 He sat over his untouched breakfast for an hour 
 or more, and then started the day as he had 
 finished the preceding one, with the only solace he 
 could think of — whisky-and-water. A bad begin- 
 ning, indeed, at any time, and a worse just then, 
 for he was not in the best of health. He was not a 
 man habitually addicted to heavy drinking ; far 
 from it. Whatever sin he could have charged him- 
 self with on this account in previous years, since 
 his acquaintance with Sybil at least, his indulgence 
 in strong liquors had been moderate. But the 
 terribly mistaken notion acquired during his Univer- 
 sity career, that nothing steadies a man's shaken 
 
A LEADING LADY 171 
 
 nerves so much of a morning as a stiff tumbler of 
 brandy or ^Yhisky and soda, had ckmg to him, and, 
 like most men who keep late hours, he had resorted 
 to it so often that at last he believed firmly in the 
 imaginary, vicious, deceptive and only temporarily 
 stimulating relief the early morning glass brought 
 to him. 
 
 His colour, at no time too florid, had become 
 pallid in one night, and his fingers shook as he 
 poured out the liquor. 
 
 ' Why is she treating me like this ?' he cried to 
 himself in' a petty, febrile wrath. ' I have never 
 done her harm, and if I have offended her, surely 
 there are a hundred proofs that I love her to set 
 against that one fault. There's more in that than 
 meets the eye, I think. Somebody is inciting her 
 against me, I think. Somebody is trying to part 
 us. She would never act like that of her own 
 account — never — never — never, I am sure.' 
 
 And the trembling fingers wandered again in the 
 direction of the cut-glass carafe containing the 
 whisky. The glass was filled again, and yet again, 
 and the poor fellow became angrier with himself 
 and the world as the supposed remedy l)rought no 
 relief. 
 
172 A LEADING LADY 
 
 * I know what I'll do,' he muttered at last ; ' I'll 
 put the question to Brewster. He is shrewd, and 
 he is a good friend of mine, and he'll put himself 
 out of the way to help me to get at the bottom of 
 all this. If anybody is trying to part Sybil and 
 me he'll help me to find it out, and he'll do it soon 
 too.' 
 
 He dressed himself, and having ordered his 
 brougham, drove to the Royal Charing Cross 
 Theatre. 
 
X. 
 
 ' My dear boy,' said bis kind and affable and good 
 friend Bre^Yster, wben Miller had given him an 
 exposition of his fears and doubts, ' if you can't 
 keep on with it, stop it. Go to her and tell her 
 that you want to make it up, that you'll do any- 
 thing to make it up — or whatever you care to 
 say.' 
 
 ' But suppose she won't see me, what then ?' 
 Herbert asked anxiously. 
 
 * How am I to know ?' rejoined the business- 
 manager with an air of offended dignity. 'You 
 come to me for advice. I give it. Then you come 
 l^ack and tell me that you won't follow it, and ask 
 for more advice. What's the good of that ?' 
 
 ' Don't say wo)i't follow it, old man,' pleaded the 
 poor fellow. ' I want to follow it, but it's too hard. 
 Don't cut up rough with me. I'm afraid, if I were 
 to go to her, she wouldn't see me.' 
 
174 ^ LEADING LADY 
 
 ' That's most likely,' answered Brewster, with a 
 shrug of his ample shoulders, and an elevation of 
 his scanty eyebrows. ' But go to her, by all 
 means ; she'll see then how badly you want to 
 make it up.' 
 
 ' And you think that in that case she will keep 
 me waiting all the longer,' suggested the lovelorn 
 swain. 
 
 ' Don't ask me — what's the good of it ?' replied 
 Brewster. ' Perhaps she may — perhaps she mayn't ; 
 I think she may.' 
 
 * I've got something else to ask your advice upon, 
 old man,' went on the heartbroken Miller. ' It has 
 just struck me that somebody may be trying to part 
 her and me.' 
 
 The man of business sat back in his writing- 
 chair, and for a moment an air of doubt and 
 inquiry settled over his face. His little blinking 
 eyes twitched, and his lips opened as in surprise. 
 Then a smile — an ambiguous grin, rather — 
 gradually spread over his rotund features. 
 
 ' By Jove !' he exclaimed ; ' that's an idea. You 
 may be right. What has put that in your head ? 
 How did you come to think of that ? Whom do 
 you suspect ?' 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 175 
 
 ' I don't know how I came to think of it,' rephed 
 Miher ; ' and I don't suspect anybody ' — the ponder- 
 ous one drew a long breath — ' and I want you to 
 help me to find out who it is.' 
 
 ' Oh, that I will, if it's so, and gladly, too,' ex- 
 claimed the busmess-manager, with an effusive 
 heartiness. ' Let me think — let me think. Who 
 can it be? ^Mio can have an interest in parting 
 you and the girl ?' 
 
 ' I can't suggest anybody. I thought for a 
 moment it might be AVatson ' — the little eyes 
 blinked more rapidly and nervously — ' but, then, I 
 said to myself it can't be Watson. He spoke so 
 kindly, and acted in so manly a way — and — I'm 
 quite sure it isn't Watson.' 
 
 ' Oh no, it isn't Watson,' retorted Brewster. ' If 
 he'd want to get at the girl, he wouldn't do it in 
 that way. Besides, I know that he's on quite a 
 different tack just now. Just let me consider. 
 Who can it be ? — who can it be ?' 
 
 His face brightened, and he struck his open 
 palm with his clenched fist. 
 
 ' I've got it !' he cried. ' I think I've got it. If 
 it's anybody, it's that old cat. Miss Northcote.' 
 
 ' Miss Northcote ?' echoed Miller doubtfully. 
 
176 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ' Yes, Miss Northcote ; nobody but she, you may 
 swear,' answered the other. 
 
 ' But, for goodness' sake, why ?' asked the young 
 man. 
 
 ' She hates the girl,' answered Brewster. ' She 
 has tried to injure her in every way, and has failed. 
 It was she who helped most to spread the lying 
 reports about her being found in Watson's rooms. 
 Depend upon it, she is at the bottom of the whole 
 business.' 
 
 ' But what can she gain by doing it ?' was the 
 anxious question. 
 
 ' Heaven alive, man ! can't you see it ?' cried the 
 big man. * You are rich. You are known to fling 
 your money all over the girl. You're a great catch 
 for any marriageable woman. And if that Jezebel 
 can part you and Sybil, she'll think herself re- 
 venged for having been turned out of this theatre.' 
 
 ' This business is too deep for me,' said Miller, 
 shaking his head. ' I shall never see clear in it. 
 And how can I find out ? How can I prove it ?' 
 
 ' You're not likely to prove it, my dear boy,' was 
 the inconsolatory reply. ' She's been found out 
 once over the first-night business, and she'll take 
 better care this time.' 
 
A LEADING LADY 177 
 
 " Then what do you advise me to do ?' asked the 
 poor man desperately. 
 
 ^I've told you before,' answered Brewster, 'and 
 I repeat it now. Do nothing. "Wait. If 3^ou 
 can't do that, do what you like ; but don't come 
 to me again.' 
 
 * And you really think I'd better w^ait ?' 
 
 * Of course I do, my boy. Mark my words : if 
 you hurry this business, you'll come to grief. 
 Depend upon it, my bo}^ she'll not give you up so 
 easily. You're far too rich for that. Girls don't 
 find Herbert Millers every day.' 
 
 He acknowledged the wisdom of Brewster's 
 advice, and went home, heartsore and wretched, to 
 follow it. 
 
 It was a shame, a beastly shame, he thought, 
 that a wicked woman, out of simple spite towards 
 Sybil, should endeavour to wreck his happiness. 
 He felt that he was powerless, and had to let things 
 go as they would. He had no proof. He stretched 
 himself full length upon his sofa, and when his 
 servant In'ought his lunch, he ate merely a dozen 
 of oysters, and sent l)ack the rest of the solid food, 
 emptying, on the other hand, a bottle and a pint of 
 champagne. 
 
 12 
 
178 A LEADING LADY 
 
 The meal barely over, he fell asleep. He \Yoke 
 with a splittmg headache when it was already quite 
 dark. 
 
 He shivered, in spite of the great fire that 
 burned brightly in the grate, and his head felt as 
 if it were many sizes too large for him, and as 
 if heavy round knobs were hammering against 
 the inside of his cranium. His fingers were 
 like ice, and his forehead burned and his ears 
 tingled. 
 
 ' I'm in a mess,' he said to himself, ' and no 
 mistake. It's very unkind of Sybil. I wouldn't 
 have treated her like that.' 
 
 Then it struck him that he was treating her in 
 exactly the manner which he had so reproachfully 
 termed heartless, and the thought showed him his 
 offence in a new enormity. 
 
 ' Brewster may be right,' he said ; ' but hang me 
 if I go on with it ! I never saw it in that light. I 
 wouldn't be guilty of it for worlds. No, I'll speak to 
 Sybil, whatever comes of it. She can only tell me 
 to go. And better to know it and have it over than 
 this horrible state.' 
 
 His shaking fingers wandered about again search- 
 ing for the decanter. He knew of no other relief 
 
A LEADING LADY 179 
 
 to which he could fly. The whisky-bottle is cer- 
 tainly not a spring where 
 
 ' Shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, 
 And drinking largely sobers us again,' 
 
 and yet the foolish theory is in much favour 
 among hard drinkers, that when a man's nerves are 
 shaken by an undue consumption of strong liquor, 
 the best way of steadying them is to take more 
 whisky. The want of nourishing food, and the 
 indulgence in ardent spirits, had told upon him. 
 When he examined his face in the mirror, he found 
 that it was haggard, drawn and pallid, the eyes 
 sunken, the lips bloodless, and he acknowledged to 
 himself that he was not a prepossessing picture of 
 manhood. 
 
 'A sight I do look!' he said to himself; 'but 
 there's no help for it. I'm bound to see her. I 
 can't keep up any longer. I don't care what 
 she'll say ; I don't care what she'll do. I'm in for 
 it now. So here goes, neck or nothing.' 
 
 He put on his evening dress and strolled out. 
 The night was foggy, cold and chill, and he 
 shivered in his thin patent-leather shoes as he 
 stepped on to the pavement. He hailed a passing 
 
 12—2 
 
i8o A LEADING LADY 
 
 hansom. A glance at his watch told hhn that it 
 was past seven o'clock. 
 
 * To the Charing Cross Theatre,' he cried, and 
 the vehicle sped away. 
 
 Sybil had in the meantime followed the conduct 
 of her lover with amazement. When she saw him 
 in the corridor, and she noticed how repentant he 
 looked, how eager for a kindly word from her, and 
 how grieved by her refusal to speak to him, her 
 heart softened towards him, and she chided herself 
 for being so angry with him. 
 
 ' He's only a great fool,' she said to herself. 
 ' He's good enough, and true enough, and staunch 
 enough, but he has not the way about him to show 
 it ; and he looks so sorry.' 
 
 Then, as the thoughts faded, she pictured Ean- 
 dolph Watson to herself — handsome where the 
 other was plain, passionate where the other was 
 sluggard, fiery where the other was slow and cold ; 
 brave, clever, a genius, a man among men. On the 
 one side gold — she thought little at the moment of 
 the true, honest heart — on the other talent, art, 
 fame, the applause of thousands. And the 
 balances dipped and rose, first on that side, and then 
 on this ; and at last a grain of woman's pity turned 
 
A LEADING LADY i8i 
 
 the scale. It would break poor Herbert's heart if 
 she jilted him, she said to herself ; and Herbert 
 Miller, uneven teeth, shaggy, rebellious moustache, 
 lanky, uncouth figure, eyeglass and all, won the 
 contest. 
 
 So, ^Yhen the curtain descended, and she re- 
 turned to her dressing-room, she ^Yas ready to 
 forgive and to be forgiven. She dressed herself 
 quickh\ Herbert was usually waiting at the door 
 when she was ready, but her dresser, peering out 
 into the landing, told her of his absence. What did 
 it mean ? Was there ever a man so irritating, so 
 horrid ? She could not be expected to run after 
 him, surely. Here was a new offence, a new 
 grievance. She went out and ordered the aston- 
 ished woman to get the fireman to fetch her a cab. 
 
 ' Won't you wait for Mr. Miller, miss ?' asked the 
 woman. ' He is in the theatre.' 
 
 ' No,' answered Sybil. ' Be quick. Get me a 
 cab.' 
 
 'But the l)rougham is at the door, miss,' con- 
 tinued the woman. ' Won't you take that ?' 
 
 ' You heard what I said, ^Nfrs. Gordon,' retorted 
 Sybil. ' Get me a cab.' 
 
 The vehicle was fetched, and Sybil drove away. 
 
i82 A LEADING LADY 
 
 Was there ever so perverse, so stubborn, so dread- 
 ful, so offensive a man as Miller ? Here she was 
 ready to forgive, and he would not come to be for- ' 
 given, thus inflicting insult and injury at the same 
 time, heaping Ossas upon Pelions of wrong-doing. 
 
 * Well,' she said, tossing her pretty head in a 
 defiant emphasis, which boded ill for the luckless 
 Miller, 'if he thinks that I'll run after him, he'll 
 wait a long time. Mr. Watson would not have 
 done that.' 
 
 In every comparison between Herbert and 
 Watson, the latter came off an easy victor, and 
 Sybil was happy for the moment by the consolation 
 that, if she parted with her old love, there was the 
 new — the delightful, the delicious, the exquisite 
 new, ready for the asking ; yea, without the 
 asking. 
 
 Watson lived in St. John's Wood, and he had no 
 more business in Clapham than in the moon. Yet 
 — so strange are the amenities of a theatrical 
 manager's occupation — that on the following morn- 
 ing an unexpected and delicate mission took him to 
 the south of London. He was one of the Yice 
 Presidents of the Actors' Charitable Fund, and a 
 case had come before the committee on the previous 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 183 
 
 day which demanded his personal inquiry and 
 attention. The wido^y of an old actor had applied 
 for relief. "Watson had l)een personally acquainted 
 with the old actor. On such occasions it was 
 usual for the secretary to make all necessary 
 research, but on that early morning Watson was 
 struck by the sudden thought that he was the 
 person most fit and proper to call upon and 
 question the old lady. He drove to the office and 
 stated his view to the secretary-, who was only too 
 glad to be relieved of his share of the business, 
 especially by so prominent a member of the com- 
 mittee as Mr. Watson. 
 
 The old lady lived in a street off the Clapham 
 Pvoad. Sybil lived in the Clapham Road. What 
 more natural, then, than that 'Mv. Watson, being 
 in the immediate neighbourhood, should not pass 
 Sybil's house without callmg upon her. It was not 
 only excusal)le, it was an act of simple courtesy. 
 
 Sjiiil, like Herl)ert ^Tiller on his part, had 
 expected to receive a note from her lover that 
 morning. None came, and she was sorely per- 
 plexed. She was more puzzled than annoyed, for 
 this silence, this contemptuous disdain, was so 
 strange to ^liUer's character aa sho kuew it and 
 
I84 A LEADING LADY 
 
 understood it, that it made her pause and 
 wonder. 
 
 ' That's not at all like Herbert,' she said to her- 
 self ; ' he's been put up to that. He Avould never 
 act like this,' she continued, after a pause of 
 thoughtful reflection. ' Somebody has been ad- 
 vising him. It's a woman, I bet.' 
 
 Her little fingers tightened as the idea suggested 
 itself to her. 
 
 ' Ah !' she cried ; ' that's it — some woman. What 
 woman?' and she puzzled her head for fully ten 
 minutes in mentally going over the list of the 
 ladies into whose trap the unwary Miller might 
 have fallen. 
 
 In the midst of her cogitation Watson appeared 
 upon the scene, smiling serenely, handsome as 
 ever, the very picture of a desirable lover. 
 
 ' I am so glad 3'ou have called, Mr. Watson,' 
 said Sybil, offering her white hand, which the 
 manager kissed with a delicious mock courtesy ; ' I 
 particularly want to ask you a question.' 
 
 'I am at your service,' answered the glowing 
 Watson. 
 
 * I want to know,' continued Sybil, ' if you saw 
 Mr. Miller last night ?' 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 185 
 
 ' Oh, certainly ; I saw him several times.' 
 
 ' Where ?' 
 
 'At the theatre, first of all.' 
 
 ' Did he say anything to you a])out me ?' 
 
 ' Nothing that I can rememl^er ; nothing par- 
 ticular, at an}^ rate.' 
 
 ' He made no remark '? He did not ask ahout me?' 
 
 ' No.' 
 
 ' Was he in the theatre when I left it ?' 
 
 * Certainly. You must have seen his brougham 
 at the stage-door.' 
 
 ' Of course I did. And where did you see him 
 afterwards ?' 
 
 ' At Belloni's.' 
 
 ' Xt the supper-rooms ? Do you go there, Mr. 
 Watson ?' 
 
 ' Not very often. I went there last night for a 
 minute or two merely.' 
 
 ' And Mr. Miller was there ? Was he alone ?' 
 
 ' He was sitting at a table with two ladies and 
 another gentleman.' 
 
 Now this was the bare naked truth, but Watson 
 knew very well that the man and the two women 
 had sat down at Herbert's table for the reason that 
 the place was full, and every other seat occupied. 
 
1 86 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ' Oh, indeed !' exclaimed Sybil. ' And what was 
 he doing ?' 
 
 ' He was drinking champagne.' 
 
 * And he seemed to be enjoying himself ?' 
 
 ' Oh yes.' 
 
 Tears of rage pearled in Sybil's eyes. 
 
 ' Don't yon think, Mr. Watson,' she said, with a 
 cold wrath at her heart, ' that Miller is a wretch ?' 
 
 ' I won't go so far as to say that, my dear Miss 
 Collier,' answered the cunning Watson ; ' but I 
 think he has acted very unkindly towards you.' 
 
 His arm was around her waist again as he was 
 sitting l\y her side on the soft couch. 
 
 ' W^hy do you grieve about him ?' he asked 
 tenderly ; ' are you so very, very fond of him ?' 
 
 ' Fond of him !' she cried, with a stamp of the 
 tiny satin-slippered foot; *I hate him!' and she 
 looked at that moment as if she meant it in down- 
 right earnest. 
 
 ' Don't say that,' rejoined Watson, snaking his 
 arm about her with an insinuating pressure ; ' you 
 know you like him very much. Indeed, if it were 
 otherwise you would have more pity upon poor 
 me.' 
 
 ' You men are all alike,' answered Sybil. * You 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 187 
 
 see in my annoj'ance an opportunity wliich may 
 possibly serve you.' 
 
 'How cruel you are to me !' he ^Yhispered sooth- 
 ingly. 
 
 ' I'm not cruel,' she replied ; ' but I'll be just 
 before I'm generous.' 
 
 ' Why not ])e generous to me,' he asked, ' to me 
 who love you as much as he — ay, more than he 
 ever was, or is, or will be capable of ?' 
 
 His hand was upon hers, his eyes peered into 
 hers, glowing and gleaming. His contact always 
 thrilled her, but at that moment it shot through 
 her like an electric ripple. An instant more, what 
 she might have done, or what she might have con- 
 ceded, she knew not ; Ijut a presentiment, strange 
 and instantaneous, an inexplicable dread of wrong- 
 doing — whether it were womanly truth, or some 
 remaining spark of faith in her lover — checked her. 
 She withdrew her hand, and gentl}' slipped from 
 Watson's supple arm. 
 
 ' No," she said quietly, ' I'll be just first of all.' 
 
 ' Then there is no hope for me?' he pleaded. 
 
 ' I will not go so far as to say that,' she replied ; 
 ' l)ut you must have patience. We women are 
 weak creatures, you know, and we have our whims 
 
1 88 A LEADING LADY 
 
 and our foibles. You must humour me, and per- 
 haps ' 
 
 ' Perhaps what ? What were 3^ou gomg to say ?' 
 he asked. 
 
 ' Perhaps one day I may be less cruel to j^ou, as 
 you call it.' 
 
 She passed the rest of the day in ^Yeighing her 
 doubts. She had an inborn sense of equity which 
 told her that after all there might be something 
 hidden from her which might explain everything. 
 
 Miller could not have changed in so short a 
 space of time as to be one day worthy to become 
 her husband and the next day totally unworthy. 
 She would let the day pass, and see what the even- 
 ing brought ; much might be accounted for, much 
 evidence might be adduced, to make her think 
 more leniently of the young man. 
 
 She arrived at the theatre in the evening, and 
 found Miller waiting for her in the passage. 
 
 He had been further steadying his nerves after 
 the manner of the past twenty-four hours, with 
 additional whisky-and-water. He leaned against 
 the whitewashed wall, with his crush-hat partly at 
 the back of his head, his white tie hanging dis- 
 orderly across his shirt-front, with his hands in his 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 189 
 
 trousers-pockets, his face white, his Hps bahbling, 
 and his eyes leering. 
 
 ' Sybil !' he cried, as the girl was about to pass. 
 
 She looked at him and shuddered. His breath 
 was redolent with alcohol, and the evidences of 
 intoxication were unmistakable. 
 
 ' I suppose this is the continuation of last night's 
 debauch,' she said bitterly. ' Good-evening.' 
 
 He launched a fumbling arm, and caught her by 
 her mantle. 
 
 'One moment — one second — Sybil,' he hic- 
 coughed. 
 
 ' Please let me pass,' she cried imperiously. 
 
 * Don't come near me. Never come near me 
 again.' 
 
 In another moment she was gone ; and Miller, 
 staring about him helplessly and vacantly, could 
 only babble a few incoherent words, among which 
 
 * Shame! deuced shame !' were partly distinguish- 
 able. 
 
 When Sybil reached her dressing-room she sat 
 down and cried bitterly. On a sudden she rose 
 and wiped her eyes. 
 
 ' It is all over now,' she said lirmly. ' Thank 
 God, it is all over !' 
 
XL 
 
 When Miller woke on the following morning he 
 w^as very ill indeed. The previous evening was a 
 blank to him except for the hard damning know- 
 ledge that he had not been sober, and that, while 
 in that shameful state, he had met Sybil. But 
 what else he did in the theatre, when he left it, 
 how he reached home, when he reached home, 
 when he went to bed, and how he went to bed, he 
 knew not. 
 
 He was so feverish and so prostrated that his 
 servant, without further ado, fetched his phy- 
 sician. 
 
 * Oh dear, oh dear !' exclaimed the man of science 
 when he had examined his patient, * how often 
 have I preached to you about this wicked remedy, 
 which is worse than the ill itself ! You have been 
 suffering from a severe nervous prostration, and 
 you fly to intoxicating liquors for relief. It has the 
 
A LEADIXG LADY 191 
 
 bame eli'ect as if you ^ve^e to place your feet iiito a 
 pailful of ice and to put a shovelful of red-hot coals 
 on your head. It is madness, my dear sir, sheer 
 madness. You must promise me never to do it 
 again.' 
 
 Miller felt so ill, and so miserable, and so 
 wretched, and his head throbbed so, and his lips 
 were so parched, and his throat pricked him so, 
 and his fingers trembled so, and such a horrid cold 
 shiver shook him from time to time, that he ^YOuld 
 have given worlds for a drink of whisky-and-soda. 
 But the doctor was inexorable. He confiscated all 
 the ardent liquor in the room, and ordered the 
 servant to take it to the pantry, and on no account 
 to allow his master to have a drop. 
 
 Miller lay on his bed inconsolable, feverish, with 
 aching limbs and aching heart. What was he to 
 do now ■? Sybil would despise him. Things had 
 gone wrong with a vengeance, and he could blame 
 nobody but himself. He could certainly not blame 
 Brewster. He had asked for his advice, and had 
 not only not followed it, but had made a fool and 
 a show of himself. Brewster had been right, of 
 that he had no doubt, and he alone was at fault. 
 He and that wicked Miss Xorthcote, who had turned 
 
.192 A LEADING LADY 
 
 Sybil's mind against him out of mere woman's 
 malice and woman's spite. 
 
 All that day and all through that night he lay in 
 bed, and suffered in body and in mind. It hap- 
 pened that not a soul called upon him, although at 
 other times his chambers were full of visitors. The 
 enforced quiet, the abstention from strong drink, 
 the medicine and the simple regime prescribed, 
 soon brought about a change for the better, and on 
 the following morning he w^as able to rise and 
 walk about the room. He was very weak still, 
 but the effort of movement roused and invigorated 
 him. 
 
 During all this while he had no note, no mes- 
 sage, no news from Sybil. He sent his servant to 
 the theatre to obtain information, but the man was 
 a simple-minded old soldier, unaccustomed to stage- 
 door intrigue, and he learned nothing. 
 
 He sat down a dozen times or more to write to 
 Sybil, but in his despair he was unable to compose 
 a letter that seemed to him at all likely to appease 
 the offended lady. He tore the ei3istles one after the 
 other, and threw the pieces into the fire. Then he 
 would fold his hands, and wring them in his mental 
 agony, and with vacant gaze search among the 
 
A LEADING LADY 193 
 
 gleaming coals in the grate for a spark of hope to 
 light his night of misery. 
 
 At last, after one mighty effort, he managed to 
 dash off a few lines, which seemed to him to em- 
 body what he wanted to say. 
 
 ' My dearest ' (he wrote), 
 
 ' I am so sorry for having acted as I have 
 done. I was worse than foolish, I was wicked ; but, 
 believe me, my faults were faults of head, and not 
 of heart. I sinned because I loved you so, and I 
 was too miserable to know that I was acting 
 wrongly. Forgive me, dearest, and you shall 
 never again have cause for complaint. 
 
 ' Your heartbroken lover, 
 
 ' Herbert.' 
 
 That night he slept soundly. The message of 
 peace he had sped towards his love left its com- 
 forting warmth about his heart, and he felt that 
 now for the first time he had done what common - 
 sense and manly courtesy ought to have dictated to 
 him long ago. Brewster had advised him, and 
 Brewster, he felt sure now, had been wrong ; but 
 his big friend had acted with the best of intentions, 
 and, from his point of view, with reason and 
 
 13 
 
194 A LEADING LADY 
 
 acumen. But Brewster, his knowledge of the world 
 and of women notwithstanding, had undoubtedly 
 been wrong. 
 
 The night's sleep brought calmness to his mind, 
 strength to his nerves, clearness to his mental 
 sight, and new vigour to his body. He felt strong 
 enough again to meet Sybil, to face the world, its 
 calumnies and its stings. 
 
 He was in quite a happy mood as he sat over 
 his breakfast of ham and eggs and tea and toast, 
 and he thought he had not eaten such a hearty 
 meal for a long time. He was singing in his 
 accustomed piping falsetto a stave of a popular 
 burlesque song when his servant brought him a big 
 packet and a note. 
 
 Sybil's writing w^as on the envelope and on the 
 cover. Herbert's blood rushed through his veins, and 
 his fingers shook as in a palsy as he opened the note. 
 
 ' Miss Collier,' it ran * presents her compliments 
 to Mr. Miller, and begs to return the mementoes of 
 an acquaintance which has been brought to so 
 abrupt a close by Mr. Miller's conduct. Miss 
 Collier requests Mr. Miller to consider their ac- 
 quaintance at an end.' 
 
A LEADING LADY 195 
 
 All the giftb, all the trinkets he had given her, 
 from her engagement - ring to the riviere of 
 diamonds, were there. He felt a tear brimming 
 in his eye and running over his cheek. 
 
 'Well, if it's all over,' he said to himself in a 
 cold dismay, ' it can't be helped. I shall feel 
 better soon, now that I know the worst. Brewster's 
 right, after all. There are as good fish in the sea 
 as ever came out of it, and there are other girls 
 besides Sybil Collier in the world.' 
 
 He knew that he was lying to himself, trying to 
 deceive himself about his own heart's stinging 
 pain. He made a desperate effort to feel calm and 
 collected, and succeeded in arriving at a wretched 
 semblance of composure. 
 
 He longed to find somebody to whom to con- 
 fide his trouble. It would ease his mind to speak 
 about it. A name rose to his lips, the name of a 
 friend whom he had long neglected, and whom, as 
 he now thought, he ought to have consulted. He 
 had not been to see Barnaby Walker for weeks. 
 Walker had always been kind and true to him. 
 They had been schoolfellows, although Barnaby 
 was three or four years his senior, and they had 
 remained friends ever since. Barnaby knew 
 
 13—2 
 
196 A LEADING LADY 
 
 theatrical people better than most men out of the 
 profession. He might have something to suggest. 
 Yes, he would go and see Barnaby Walker. 
 
 The day was cold and foggy. The gas was 
 flaring in shops, in offices, and in private rooms, 
 though it was late forenoon. The acrid humidity 
 settled itself about his throat as he went into the 
 street, and made him feel even more cheerless than 
 before. He walked on leisurely for awhile, not 
 looking to the right nor to the left, until his own 
 coachman, whom in his wretchedness he had for- 
 gotten, and who had followed him, stopped the 
 vehicle by the kerb at his side, and asked whether 
 he had no orders. He thanked the man with a 
 vacant smile, and ordered him to drive to Barnaby 
 Walker's chambers in Clement's Inn. 
 
 The great critic laughed at him for his folly. 
 He told him that he was a fool for taking it so to 
 heart that Sybil had jilted him, that he was a 
 bigger fool for having taken Brewster's advice; 
 and when Miller told him that Brewster had men- 
 tioned Miss Northcote as the probable instigator of 
 the mischief, he roared outright. 
 
 ' The man is either a rogue or an ass, I should 
 think,' said Walker. 'A little bit of both most 
 
A LEADING LADY 197 
 
 likely. Why should Miss Northcote interfere be- 
 tween you and Miss Collier ?' 
 
 ' She hates her for having taken her place at the 
 Charing Cross,' suggested Miller. 
 
 ' Bosh ! And even if she wanted to separate you, 
 in what manner would she set to w^ork ?' asked the 
 man of letters. ' It's much more likely a scheme 
 of Brewster's and Watson's. I don't think much 
 of Brewster, but Watson, where a woman is con- 
 cerned, is the most dastardly sweep in the theatrical 
 profession. Don't you fret about it, my friend. If 
 the girl had been worth such a good, honest fellow 
 as yourself she would have stuck to you.' 
 
 'You don't think, then, that Miss Xorthcote is 
 at the bottom of all this ?' asked the still doubting 
 Miller. 
 
 'L'have no patience with 3'ou !' retorted Walker. 
 ' But I'll prove it to you. I'm going to the matinee 
 at the Lyceum this afternoon ; I have a box. You 
 shall come with me. Miss Northcote is sure to be 
 there, and then I'll get her to come to my box and 
 you shall speak to her yourself.' 
 
 ' Oil, my dear fellow, I wouldn't for anything in 
 the world,' answered Miller in a frightened voice. 
 ' I couldn't.' 
 
 'Indeed. I insist,' replied Walker; 'you will 
 
198 A LEADING LADY 
 
 have to do it. You have accused this lady of doing 
 you wilful wrong, and it is only right and manly that 
 you should give her a chance of clearing herself.' 
 
 Miller protested that he would not do his friend's 
 bidding. He had had his fill of the whole business, 
 and wanted if possible to brush it from his mind, 
 he said, as if he had been possessed of the strength 
 of purpose for such a task. The conversation was 
 taking a quieter turn, when a ring of the hall-bell 
 announced visitors, and the servant, entering the 
 room, informed her master that Miss Northcote 
 wished to see him. 
 
 ' You can't get out of it now,' said Walker. ' You 
 will have to see the business through, that's all.' 
 
 Miller, ill at his ease, ensconced himself in the 
 farthest corner of a big couch, and pretended to be 
 deeply engaged in the perusal of a book when the 
 stately actress entered the room. 
 
 * You know my friend Herbert Winthrop Miller, of 
 course ?' saidWalker, after the usual formal courtesies. 
 
 The young man had risen, and was standing 
 there, a picture of abject discomfort. Miss North- 
 cote merely bowed. 
 
 *I have seen Mr. Miller,' she replied, 'though I 
 never had the pleasure of being introduced to him.' 
 
A LEADING LADY 199 
 
 ' That is stranp;e,' returned Walker. ' My friend 
 thinks that you have taken a considerable interest 
 in his affairs.' 
 
 The unfortunate Miller would have given a 
 hundred pounds to be out of the room, and away 
 from the searching glance of that woman. 
 
 ' What do 3'ou mean, Mr. Walker ?' she asked. 
 ' I don't understand you.' 
 
 ' ril come to the point at once, Miss Northcote,' 
 said Walker, ' for it is purposeless to beat about the 
 bush. Mr. Miller thinks that you have had a hand 
 in instigating his quarrel with Miss Collier, which 
 has led to their separation.' 
 
 ' x\h !' exclaimed the actress, 'you amaze me, 
 Mr. Walker. They are separated then ? But I am 
 surprised that Mr. Miller should think so ill of me. 
 I have heard about their quarrel — who has not ? 
 It is the talk of the profession. About Miss Collier 
 I know nothing but what I heard from Mrs. 
 Horace Grantham's own lips.' 
 
 ' And that is ?' gasped Miller. 
 
 ' Mrs. Horace Grantham and Miss Wentholme 
 surprised Miss Collier and Mr. Randolph Watson 
 alone in a private room at Mr. Brewster's chambers 
 after the dinner given by the latter. Both llicse 
 
200 A LEADING LADY 
 
 ladies vouch for the fact that they found them in 
 such a position as left no doubt about their previous 
 conduct, and they both sho^Yed their indignation at 
 Miss Colher's behaviour by immediately leaving the 
 place.' 
 
 So this, then, was the explanation of the origin 
 of the trouble. Sybil was not so stainless, after all ; 
 and Watson was a traitor — Watson and Brewster 
 both. 
 
 ' You assure me, upon your word of honour,' said 
 Miller, with a quiet intensity totally at variance with 
 his previous excitement, ' that you state simple fact?' 
 
 ' Absolute fact, my dear Mr. Miller,' answered 
 the lady. ' But you can easily question Miss 
 Wentholme and Mrs. Horace Grantham. They 
 will corroborate what I state. And, more than 
 that : don't believe any of us. Believe only your 
 own eyes. Follow the girl — have her watched, or 
 watch her yourself — and you will soon see that it 
 is Mr. Eandolph Watson who has taken your place. 
 You will see that it is he who drives and walks about 
 with her, who takes her to lunch and to dinner ; and 
 other proofs will, I have no doubt, speedily follow.' 
 
 The poor fellow did not know what to think. 
 Everybody told him a different story. Which was 
 
A LEADING LADY 201 
 
 lie to believe ? Whom ^Yas he to believe ? This 
 last version bore an impress of actuality and of 
 truth. Yes, he would judge with his o\Yn eyes. If 
 Sybil were so false, she was not worth his troubling 
 his peace about her. 
 
 But wdth all that he loved her. He tried to con- 
 vince himself that he no longer cared for her, but 
 failed disastrously. The girl's image had twined 
 itself around his heart. It had become part of his 
 existence, and he could no more grasp it and cast it 
 from him than he could have cut the flesh from his 
 bones without feeling the hurt. 
 
 He was no longer excited, but calm — wretchedly, 
 miserably, calm. A cold, creeping sensation clung 
 to him, and seemed to gnaw into his sinews and 
 his bones. His voice became rough, and though 
 he tried hard to speak composedly, he found mostly 
 gutturals among all the letters of the alphabet. 
 
 And in his dull, cold, bleak misery he must needs 
 fly to the remedy that before had proved worse 
 than the disease. Whisky ! whisky ! As he had 
 craved for wdiisky to steady his shaken nerves, so 
 he thirsted for whisky to warm his heart, to drive 
 chill pain and discomfort away. 
 
 He returned to his chambers, and sat down with 
 
202 A LEADING LADY 
 
 a freshly-opened bottle, and greedily swallowed 
 glass after glass. The more he drank the more he 
 wanted. It ran through his veins, it quickened his 
 sluggard heart-beat, it brought a horrid false gaiety 
 to his tongue, it made his eyes sparkle with an un- 
 real lustre, and he thought, poor benighted man ! 
 that in it he would be able to drown his troubles. 
 
 He sat there with folded hands, and stared into 
 the fire until the glowing coals assumed fantastic 
 shapes to his eyes, and danced and whirled about 
 him in a droll and ludicrous revelry. Sybil was 
 there, and he was with her ; and she said all sorts 
 of silly things to him — things so absurd that he 
 laughed about them ; and he remembered not the 
 time when he had been so merry, nor she either. 
 And then a cloud of black, loathsome smoke arose, 
 as from the bow^els of the earth, and it spread like 
 a pall of gloom between him and Sybil, and he 
 could no longer see her, nor hear her speak. And 
 then he saw fiery flashes in the midst of the black 
 smoke, and the cloud widened and engulfed him ; 
 and he felt as if a cold clammy hand were gripping 
 him by the throat and choking him ; and he 
 screamed aloud in a cold terror, and woke from his 
 horrid day-dream. 
 
A LEADING LADY 203 
 
 ' I can't stand this,' he said to himself, shaking 
 himself together, ^Yhilst a cold perspiration pearled 
 on his forehead. ' I'll go out. I'll go to the 
 theatre. I'll most likely learn something there.' 
 
 Before leaving his rooms he flew again to his 
 whisky-and-water. He thought he felt steadier 
 and better after that, though for a moment, as 
 he looked around the room, he imagined that the 
 clock on the mantelpiece was wobbling about with a 
 rollicking, swaying motion, and that the big can- 
 delabra were keeping time with it. But that un- 
 accountable and unusual sight seemed to possess 
 little interest for him. ' What next ?' he merely 
 said to himself. ' I am going cranky, I suppose.' 
 
 The theatre was still closed in front when he 
 reached it, and he went round to the stage-door in 
 the street at the back. The hall-keeper, a bluff 
 and hearty old soldier, was alone in his little room. 
 He had had many a half-crown, and many a half- 
 sovereign too, from Miller, and was effusive in his 
 welcome. 
 
 ' Haven't seen you for some days, sir,' he said. 
 ' Heard you wasn't well. Hope nothing serious, 
 sir.' 
 
 ' Oh, I'm all right enough,' answered Miller, 
 
204 A LEADING LADY 
 
 seating himself on a rickety chair. ' Have you 
 seen Miss ColHer to-day ?' 
 
 'Not to-day, sir, as I know on,' answered the 
 hall-keeper. ' She hasn't been here to-day.' 
 
 ' And last night ?' 
 
 ' Oh, last night, sir — she was here, of course, sir 
 — as usual, sir.' 
 
 ' And did she — did she go aw^ay by herself ?' 
 
 The man hesitated. Miller, he knew, w^as one 
 of Eandolph Watson's partners. He was aware of 
 Sybil's quarrel with Miller, but he Avas afraid of 
 committing an indiscretion. 
 
 ' Well, you see, sir, it ain't none o' my business. 
 And — I really don't like to say, sir.' 
 
 ' What nonsense, man !' retorted Miller. ' Out 
 with it. Did she go away by herself ?' 
 
 ' Well, no, sir — not exactly, sir. She went away 
 with Mr. Watson, sir.' 
 
 ' Oh, and does she ahvays go with — Mr. Watson 
 now ?' 
 
 ' I don't know, sir. You see, I'm only on duty 
 till eleven-thirty, sir, and the fireman takes charge 
 of the hall after that.' 
 
 ' They don't always leave, then, before eleven- 
 thirty ?' 
 
 ' Not always, sir. But the fireman, he can tell 
 
A LEADING LADY 205 
 
 you, sir, if you was to ask him. Thank you kindly, 
 sir,' he added, as he took a coin which Miller 
 handed him. ' I do hope as you ain't taking this 
 thing to heart, sir. We've been a- saying, all of us — 
 if you don't mind me a-saying it, sir — that we do 
 hojoe as it won't make no difference in your coming 
 to the theatre, sir, for we all do like to see you, sir 
 — all of us.' 
 
 Here was proof, undeniable proof, that he had 
 been betrayed. He had been betrayed by her 
 whom he loved so well, and by the man who pre- 
 tended to be his friend. His mind was muddled, 
 but he had strange intervals of clearness ; cold, 
 nearly imbecile indifference varied with peevish 
 annoyance in his bosom. 
 
 The strangest part of his strange feelings was 
 that he w^as not angry witli Sybil. He shivered 
 when he thought of her, and he felt sick at heart ; 
 but he had no reproach for her. He felt about her 
 much as a child would do about a doll which it has 
 broken. He was sorry that his idol was shattered, 
 but he could not at all understand how it came to 
 be destroyed, nor by whom. The broken head of a 
 doll was never a greater mystery to a baby than 
 Sybil's l)reach of faith was to Herbert Miller at 
 that moment. 
 
2o6 A LEADING LADY 
 
 He became so grief-hardened and strong in his 
 forlorn state that, had anybody come to him and 
 told him that Sybil was close by on Watson's arm, 
 he would barely have raised his head to look. The 
 only thing which bothered and distressed him was 
 that he felt so cold, and that things, inanimate 
 objects — now a chair, then a broom that was lean- 
 ing against the wall — would move about as of their 
 own volition, and jump and rise into the air, and 
 fall again with a silly and unnatural impulse. He 
 could not explain it, and he did not try to explain 
 it. It was too absurd, and he could not bother his 
 head about such things. 
 
 There w^as a restaurant opposite the theatre, and 
 he went into the private room there and sat down, 
 and ordered a big meal from the plausibly-spoken, 
 chattering w^aiter, without knowing what he had 
 ordered. Oysters, and lobster a Vamericaine, and 
 fried sole, and little vol cm vents, and roast turkey, 
 and vegetables, and salad, and sweets, and cheese, 
 and fruit, and champagne — above all champagne. 
 He looked about him with a vacant leer, and wiien 
 the food was brought to him, he ate tw^o or three 
 oysters and dropped others on the floor, and sent 
 one dish after another away untouched ; but he 
 
A LEADING LADY 207 
 
 finished his bottle of Perrier Jouet, and asked for 
 and commenced another. He was well known in 
 the place, and when his head commenced to rock 
 to and fro like that of a porcelain mandarin, and 
 then sank on to his breast, and at last fell upon 
 his arms, that were spread upon the table, they left 
 him to sleep as he liked, and even went so far as to 
 move about the room with cautious and muffled 
 footsteps so as not to awaken him. 
 
 It was past twelve o'clock when the room was 
 required for a party. The plausible waiter came 
 and gently shook Miller, who, waking with a start, 
 looked about him in a forlorn amazement and 
 rubbed his eyes. 
 
 ' All right, all right, my man,' he muttered in 
 answer to the obsequious excuses of the waiter. 
 ' I'm going. Let me pull myself together for a 
 moment or two, that's all.' 
 
 He paid his bill, and went with uncertain foot- 
 steps out into the night. He felt dazed, and his 
 head seemed like a block of wood vibrating under a 
 series of blows. He had to hold the doorpost to 
 steady himself before stepping on to the slippery 
 pavement. 
 
 Where was he to go '? To the theatre, of course. 
 
XII. 
 
 The fireman was standing at the stage-door when 
 Miller got there. He had been smoking, and this 
 being against the rules, he had his short pipe behind 
 his back, stammering an incoherent phrase of respect. 
 
 Through the open hall- door Miller could see that 
 the j)lace was dark and deserted. A single gas-jet, 
 turned down to the blue nearly, gleamed faintly 
 half-way up the passage, and another in the same 
 manner further on, at the double door, which led 
 into the theatre and to the dressing-room staircase. 
 
 ' Everybody gone ?' asked Miller, making a 
 desperate effort to steady his rebellious legs, and 
 finding himself reduced for comfort and safety to 
 lean against the opposite doorpost. 
 
 * Nearly everybody,' replied the fireman. ' But 
 you don't seem very well, Mr. Miller. Won't you 
 come into the hall and sit down ?' 
 
 ' I think I will, fireman,' answered Miller ; and 
 suiting the action to the word with a wonderful 
 
A LEADING LADY 209 
 
 alacrity, ho went into the little room and sat down 
 in the wooden armchair, where in the daytime the 
 hall-keeper was enthroned. 
 
 The fireman 'turned up the gas, and the place 
 assumed a brighter look. 
 
 ' So everybody isn't gone yet "?' continued Miller, 
 his mind bent on one object. His head seemed 
 quite steady for the moment, though he was shak- 
 ing in every liml) as with a fever. 
 
 ' No, everybody isn't gone,' replied the man. 
 ' Mr. Watson's still in the theatre.' 
 
 ' And Miss Collier ?' questioned Miller. 
 
 ' She's there too,' the fireman answered. 
 
 ' Do Mr. Watson and Miss Collier often stay 
 here late like that ?' 
 
 The fireman found himself in the predicament 
 which had perplexed the hall-keeper before him. 
 Miller had been very liberal to him : he knew the 
 young man to be one of the managers, but Mr. 
 Watson was his actual employer. 
 
 'Oh, I really don't know, Mr. Miller,' he replied. 
 
 ' Come, now, fireman,' said Miller, ' you Ivuow 
 well enough. Here, take that,' he added, extend- 
 ing a feebly fumljling hand. ' Do Mr. Watson 
 and Miss Collier often stay here like that '?' 
 
 ' Well, since you're so pressing,' answered the 
 
 14 
 
2IO A LEADING LADY 
 
 fireman, pocketing the proffered sovereign, ' I don't 
 mind telling you on the strict Q.T. They've stayed 
 here like that twice since you haven't been coming 
 to the theatre.' 
 
 ' And where are they now ?' he asked quite un- 
 concernedly; and his brain seemed clear enough 
 on that one subject nearest to his heart. 
 
 ' In Miss Collier's dressing-room, I suppose,' re- 
 plied the fireman. 
 
 ' Is Mrs. Gordon there ?' 
 
 ' She's gone long ago.' 
 
 ' And Masters ?' 
 
 ' He's gone, too, this quarter of an hour.' 
 
 Miller did not know how it came about, but he 
 did not feel pained — not even annoyed. A week 
 ago, had such information been given him, he 
 w^ould have rushed upstairs and throttled Watson, 
 and nothing short of physical violence w^ould have 
 appeased him. Now he thought it merely droll 
 that Sybil should be up there with Watson instead 
 of with him. He felt no grief, no anger, only a 
 sensation like pinpoints pricking in his throat and 
 a dryness upon his tongue. 
 
 ' I'm awfully thirsty, fireman,' he said ; ' don't 
 you think you could get me a bottle of whisky 
 somewhere ?' 
 
A ' LEADING LADY 211 
 
 * I might,' answered the man, ' if I could leave 
 the hall. The pubs are closed by this time, but I 
 could get a bottle at the Green Man. Only it 
 might take a little time, because the police have 
 been Avatching the place of a night, and the land- 
 lord's afraid of being fined.' 
 
 ' I'll take care of the hall for you,' said Miller, 
 opening his cigar-case and offering it to the fire- 
 man. ' Take one to warm you on the road.' 
 
 He lit one himself and sat back in the big chair, 
 puffing away heavily. 
 
 ' You'll have to tell Mr. Watson that it's been 
 you smoking, Mr. Miller,' urged the man, ' else I 
 might get the bullet. I wouldn't go for anybody 
 else, of course ; but I'll try for you.' 
 
 He felt assured that Miller had sufficient weight 
 in the management to prevent his loss of employ- 
 ment or other injury. Besides that, he thought 
 that neither Watson nor Miss Collier were likely to 
 descend for another half-hour, and he could be 
 back long before then. 
 
 ' I'll leave you my lantern,' he went on, ' and 
 I'd better close the hall-door. You'll know it's me 
 when I knock at the window.' 
 
 Miller, sitting alone in the little room, began to 
 fidget and feel cold and shivery. The objects 
 
 li— -J 
 
212 A LEADING LADY 
 
 about the place seemed to move of their own 
 accord — the framed regulations of the theatre 
 swayed and rocked on the wall. The hall-keeper's 
 old sword, which was suspended over the clock, 
 wobbled and wriggled as if intending to tumble 
 down upon him. 
 
 ' Hang it all !' he said, ' I can't stand this any 
 longer;' and he took up the fireman's lantern and 
 went out into the passage. 
 
 In the Charing Cross Theatre the dressing-rooms, 
 workshops, and stage-entrance occupied a building 
 separate from the stage and auditorium — the car- 
 penters' and property shops on the ground-floor ; 
 and the dressing-rooms on the upper stories. Two 
 staircases led to the upper floor — one near the 
 stage, and another just behind the double-door at 
 the further end of the hall-passage. The work- 
 shops were situated between the hall-keeper's room 
 and the last-mentioned staircase, and Miller, walk- 
 ing along the corridor, lantern in hand, stumbled 
 against the insufficiently-closed door of the car- 
 penters' shop, which opened under the pressure, 
 and he shot into the room, falling luckily on a pile 
 of shavings that were swept together, ready to be 
 taken away next morning. 
 
 Miller felt barely surprised when with difficulty 
 
A LEADING LADY 213 
 
 he picked himself together, and rose, stumbUng 
 and swaying, to his feet. His cigar had been 
 extinguished, and he pulled out his box of fusees 
 to light it again. One after the other of these 
 failed to serve him, and, in his dull incapacity of 
 apprehension, he flung them, some flaming, others 
 cold, about the room. At last he succeeded in 
 relighting his cigar, and, taking up the lantern, he 
 stumbled to the door, ^Yhich he closed behind him. 
 
 As he stood in the semi-darkness a ludicrous 
 desire seized him to go upstairs and see Sybil and 
 Watson. He ^Yas not in the least angry with 
 either of them. It was the merest sense of curiosity 
 that prompted him. 
 
 He reached the first floor after various and 
 sundry adventures, nearly coming to grief twice 
 by tumbling downward a step or two, and losing 
 his cigar on the road. Once on the landing, he 
 stumbled vacantly along the corridor where Sybil's 
 dressing-room was situated. All was dark, and he 
 heard no sound. As he flashed his hintern along 
 the passage the walls appeared to rock, and he 
 felt a ridiculous desire to push them back to 
 prevent them from falling. 
 
 At last he found the door of Sybil's dressing- 
 room and knocked. A half-stifled cry and a 
 
214 A LEADING LADY 
 
 scuffling of feet ^Yas the response, and, without 
 further waiting, he turned the handle. He had 
 been leaning helplessly against the door, and when 
 his support moved and turned away from him, he 
 fell full-length into the room, the lantern escaping 
 from his hand. 
 
 Sybil was there, still attired in her dressing- 
 wrapper, white as a sheet, and Watson, who glared 
 at the young man in a speechless wonder and 
 anger. Neither of them could find a word, only 
 the girl clung to the man in frightened shame. 
 
 ' How dare you !' cried Watson at last. 
 
 He thought that Miller's condition gave him a 
 physical superiority, though the young man was 
 known to him to be a fine bruiser, and at any other 
 time could have punished him severely. But Wat- 
 son's courage was only that of the bully. He was 
 willing enough to attack a weak, worn-out roue, 
 but Miller's strength at that moment was an 
 unknown quantity to him, and he dreaded to face 
 it, his sense of the young man's condition notwith- 
 standing. 
 
 Miller, sitting with outstretched legs on the floor, 
 leered at the pair with an imbecile grimace. His 
 eyeglass was hanging on its silken cord, and he 
 vainly endeavoured to fix it in his eye, and at last. 
 
A LEADING LADY 215 
 
 losing patience, he tore the silk and threw the 
 offending object into the room. 
 
 ' Ho^Y do you do, Sybil ?' he said with a hideous 
 mockery of politeness, and still seated on the floor. 
 ' How do you do ? Glad to see you. I suppose 
 you're not glad ?' 
 
 Sybil's courage returned. 
 
 ' Have you not disgraced yourself sufficiently in 
 ni}' eyes,' she cried, 'without coming here to do it? 
 Leave my room ! leave it this instant !' 
 
 'All right, Sybil,' replied Miller, with a ferocious 
 effort to smile ; ' all right, my dear. I don't want 
 to disturb you. Only I must get up first.' 
 
 He struggled to his feet. 
 
 ' I'm very sorry, Sybil,' he said, seating himself 
 on a chair, and a strange sense of his trouble 
 returning to his muddled brain. ' I'm very sorry 
 that I've offended you ' 
 
 ' This is no place to argue this question, Miller,' 
 retorted Watson, noticing with glad surprise the 
 young man's pacific tone and manner, ' and you're 
 not in a fit state to argue it. You should really be 
 ashamed to show yourself before ]\Iiss Collier in 
 such a disgraceful condition. You'd l)etter go 
 home and get to sleep.' 
 
 ' I don't want to go home,' cried Milkr with an 
 
2i6 A LEADING LADY 
 
 abrujDt and sudden vehemence. ' I'm not going to 
 leave you here to see Sybil home. I'm not, do 
 you hear that ?' 
 
 The girl's temper rose, and she clenched her 
 little fists and bit her lips in anger. 
 
 'You ^Yill please, Mr. Miller,' she said in a quiet 
 rage, ' leave me to decide with whom I shall go, 
 and where I shall go, and where I shall stay, and 
 who shall stay with me. If you do not leave this 
 instant, I will call the fireman and have you turned 
 out.' 
 
 Miller laughed aloud. 
 
 '•The fireman !' he exclaimed. ' The fireman, 
 you said? He isn't in the theatre.' 
 
 'And where is he, then? You seem to know,' 
 demanded Watson angril}'. 
 
 ' He's gone to fetch me a bottle of whisky.' 
 
 'The fireman out of the theatre!' cried Watson 
 furiously. ' And what's this — this smell ? Wliy, 
 there's something burning somewhere ! I can 
 smell it ! Don't you notice the smoke ?' 
 
 He rushed to the door and opened it, and an 
 asphyxiating cloud spread into the room. 
 
 ' My God !' he cried, ' the theatre's on fire ! — the 
 theatre's on fire !' 
 
 There could be no mistake. The column of 
 
A LEADING LADY 217 
 
 smoke became instantly blacker and denser, and 
 Sybil, flying to the heavy curtains that were dra^Yn 
 across the window, tore them apart, and looked out 
 into the night. A hideous glare shot across the 
 panes, sparks dashed, whirled, and danced in the 
 little inaccessible courtyard that, shaft-like, had 
 been constructed for light and air, whilst great 
 clouds of smoke mingled with the fierce element. 
 Out on the landing the sounds of crackling and 
 hissing became louder and drew nearer. 
 
 Watson with an oath rushed into the passage, 
 and immediately returned gasping for breath. 
 
 ' Close the door !' he cried, ' close the door, else 
 we shall be suffocated- ! The place is choke full of 
 smoke !' 
 
 His face was blanched and his teeth rattled. He 
 sat down lielplessly on a chair, and wiped a cold 
 perspiration from his forehead. 
 
 'But, Mr. Watson!' exclaimed Sybil, 'we shall 
 have to get away from here, else we shall all be 
 burned. You know the theatre better than I do. 
 Do please show us the way.' 
 
 ' How did this come about ?' Watson cried in a, 
 hoarse fury. ' Tlic lire's in the carpenters' shop, 
 and it's coming up the staircase. Let's make a 
 diish for the front of the house and tr}^ to get on to 
 
2i8 A LEADING LADY 
 
 the dress-circle lobby. Put a handkerchief over 
 your mouth to keep out the smoke,' he added, ' and 
 we'll make a dive for it. Come !' 
 
 The girl held out her hand to him and he gripped 
 it. He darted into the corridor with her, but the 
 staircase beyond was a hell of heat and sparks, and 
 the smoke choked and blinded them. 
 
 ' Not a little bit of use this way,' he gasped, and 
 they rushed back into the room again, closing the 
 door behind them against the onslaught of the 
 asphyxiating black cloud. 
 
 Miller had been sitting on a chair, staring about 
 him with a frigid indifference. 
 
 ' The theatre's on fire,' he muttered to himself. 
 * That's very awful, isn't it ?' 
 
 Not the slightest sense of the mortal danger in 
 which he and his companions were placed pene- 
 trated his drink- sodden mind. 
 
 ' I wonder what's to be done,' he went on to 
 himself. ' I haven't the least idea what to do ; 
 but Watson knows.' 
 
 Gradually the grip of the smoke caught his 
 throat, and the pungent odour of the burning 
 stimulated his cerebration to a more normal 
 activity. 
 
 Whilst Watson and Sybil were out of the room, 
 
A LEADING LADY 219 
 
 and he ^Yas for the space of a few moments alone, 
 a mighty sheet of flame shot past the window, 
 rushing and roaring and seething in its fiendish 
 riot of somid and of glare. The panes cracked and 
 broke with the heat, and the fire crept in and 
 licked the window-sill and the curtains there with 
 its red tongues. He stared at the phenomenon 
 with bursting eyes, and it sobered him. With a 
 swiftness explicable only to those who have them- 
 selves faced mortal terrors, his reasoning powers 
 returned to him, his appreciation of right and 
 wrong, his perception of things about him, and of 
 persons in his presence. 
 
 Sybil flashed back into the room, a white figure 
 of fear, clinging to the arm of the man who had 
 taken her from him. The thought surged from his 
 heart to fly at Watson's throat and to fling him 
 headlong into the roaring flames, but when he saw 
 the man, trembling like an aspen leaf, grayfaced, 
 and with protruding eyes, he knew him for a craven 
 cur, and he so despised him that he stayed his 
 hand. 
 
 The curtains were already ablaze, and lie Hew 
 towards them and tore them down and stamped out 
 the spitting flamed upon them. 
 
 'Well, sir,' he said cahiily — 'you, sir, what do 
 
220 A LEADING LADY 
 
 you intend to do '? Will yon save this lady ? or 
 tell me the way and I will do so.' 
 
 ' I don't know what to advise,' gasped Watson, 
 his face haggard and distorted by fear. ' Every 
 way is blocked. We'll burn to death here ! 
 God ! oh God ! there's no way out — none — and 
 we'll burn !' 
 
 Sybil stood pale as death, wringing her hands in 
 a tearless silence. Her dressing wrapper had 
 opened in the rush, and her chest and shoulder 
 shone like marble in the red glow. The heat was 
 fast becoming unbearable, the smoke dense and 
 more biting. She felt her eyesight failing, and 
 sank on the sofa in a speechless terror. 
 
 Watson sprang to his feet on a sudden, writhing 
 his arms in the air. 
 
 'I know a way!' he cried. 'We must try to 
 reach the floor above us. If any help is coming to 
 us, it will have to reach us from there. We can 
 get into the gallery bar there, or out on to the roof 
 if necessary.' 
 
 Fear quickened the man's wits, and his intimate 
 acquaintance with the disposition of the theatre 
 allured him with the hope of a possible escape. 
 
 ' Don't lose a second !' he cried desperately. 
 ' We must get at the ceiling and break through it 
 
A LEADING LADY 2 2\ 
 
 — anything — a hammer — fireirons — anything ! 
 Quick ! quick !' 
 
 They piled two smaUer tables upon the larger 
 one which Sybil used for dressing, and gathering 
 up poker and shovel from the fireplace, smashed 
 away all the ceiling. The plaster flew about in 
 great flakes, and the dust and mortar followed it, 
 and they soon succeeded in breaking through the 
 lathwork. The boards offered a sterner resistance, 
 and although attacked Ijy both men with all their 
 might, would not give way. 
 
 In the meantime the fire had gained a hold on 
 the room, and a wardrobe near the window was 
 l)urning briskly. The smoke was so dense, the 
 lieat so stifling, that Sybil flung herself full length 
 upon the sofa and sobbed aloud. 
 
 Miller managed to insert the poker in a small 
 interstice, and thus getting a leverage, pulled and 
 tugged away vv'ith all his might. He was quite 
 sober now, and the danger to Sybil gave him a 
 giant's strength. The board creaked and ])ent, and 
 at last cracked and Ijroke ; but the strained steel 
 slipped from Miller's hand, and, swinging back witli 
 a terrible force against his shoulder, sent liini 
 crashing on to the floor. '^^. Watson jumped down 
 after him, and, without even a momentary glance 
 
222 A LEADING LADY 
 
 at the injured man, picked up the poker and went 
 to work again savagely. The board broke again, 
 and Watson, placing a chair on top of the second 
 table, burst an opening into the room above large 
 enough for a man to creep through. 
 
 The flames were licking the furniture near by, 
 and were creeping along the shelves of the wall. 
 
 Watson called ' Sybil! Sybil!' but the girl merely 
 raised her head and sank back in a swoon. 
 
 ' This way ! Quick ! this way !' he cried ; 
 * haste before it is too late !' 
 
 At that moment the flames burst through the 
 door with a demoniac roar. 
 
 Watson uttered a cry of fear, and without look- 
 ing back, climbed through the opening, and the 
 chair on which he had stood and the little tables 
 fell on to the floor. 
 
 Miller, recovering from the stunning blow, raised 
 himself with a sullen pain. His left shoulder and 
 arm were powerless, and his head swam ; but the 
 sight of Sybil lying prone and lifeless upon the 
 sofa, whilst the fire darted nearer her, roused all 
 his faculties. Heedless of the torture he was in- 
 flicting upon himself in the midst of the scorching 
 heat, he again placed the smaller tables upon the 
 larger one, and the chair upon these, and taking 
 
A LEADING LADY 223 
 
 the limp figure of the unconscious girl in his un- 
 injured arm, he swung her above him, ^Yhilst the 
 flames already flickered about them, and singed 
 his hair and face. He forced her through the 
 opening as well as he could, regardless of the 
 splinters that remained ; for the girl's light cloth- 
 ing had started to blaze, and he had smothered the 
 flame with difficulty. Sybil moaned and then 
 shrieked. A projecting nail had torn her face and 
 the flesh of her arm, and the pain revived her 
 senses. She scrambled to her feet, and feeling the 
 blood tricklmg from both wounds, fainted again in 
 the midst of the smoke, with which the room above 
 was already filled. 
 
 Miller climbed after her, with his face scorched 
 raw, and his hands bleeding from a half a dozen 
 wounds. He took Sybil into his arms again, 
 gently, delicately, and carrying her like a baby, 
 he dashed away with her into the passage, where 
 the air was purer and the heat less deadly. At 
 the further end a patch of horizon shone blue and 
 cold, and the young man, makhig for that as for 
 his salvation, found a window which opened on to 
 a low roof. 
 
 He jumped out, and dragged the still fainting 
 girl after him. At his side the untouched wall. of. 
 
224 A LEADING LADY 
 
 the burning house loomed black as a coal, but above 
 it he could see the red reflection of the flames. 
 
 Then the pain of his injured shoulder became 
 intense, and a sudden faintness crept over him. 
 He sank down by Sybil's side, and wound his arm 
 about her, and kissed her cold white face. She 
 opened her eyes with a piteous wonder, and, look- 
 ing about her strangely for the space of two heart- 
 beats, threw her arms around his neck and burst 
 into a flood of tears. 
 
 After that all became dark to him — dark and 
 black as death itself — and he knew no more. 
 
 The Koyal Charing Cross Theatre was saved 
 from destruction, and no lives were lost. How the 
 fire originated was never proven. The fireman was 
 discharged, but Miller found him other employ- 
 ment. 
 
 Sybil escaped at the cost of her beauty. A red 
 scar remained on her face. She had to retire 
 from the stage, but to Herbert Miller she was as 
 beautiful as ever. 
 
 For they forgave one another in glad thankful- 
 ness. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BILLING AND SONS, FRINTEES, GUILDFORD. 
 
April, 1 391. 
 
 ,. ^ Hist oi Bo<3!ts 
 
 PUCLISIIED BY 
 
 CHATTO & "W^INDUS, 
 
 214, Piccadilly, London, "W. 
 
 Sold hy all Booli sellers, or sent post-free for the published price by the Publishers. 
 A BOUT. -THE FELLAH: 
 
 '**' Translated by Sir Randal Ro 
 
 An Egyptian Novel. By Edmond About. 
 
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26 
 
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 LISTS OF BOO KS CLASSIFIE D IN SERIES. 
 
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 THE MAYFAIR LIBRARY. 
 A Journey Round My Room. By Xavier 
 
 DE MaISTRE. 
 
 Quips and Quiddities. Bv W. D. Adams. 
 The Agony Column Of "The Times." 
 Melancholy Anatomised : Abridgment of 
 
 *' Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy." 
 The Speeches of Charles Dickens. 
 Literary Frivolities, Fancies, Follies, 
 
 and Frolics. By W. T. Dobson. 
 Poetical Ingenuities. By W. T. Dobson. 
 The Cupboard Papers. By Fin-Bec. 
 W. S. Gilbert's Plays. First Series. 
 W. S. Gilbert's Plays. Second Series. 
 Songs of Irish Wit and Humour. 
 Animals and Masters. By Sir A. Helps. 
 Social Pressure. By Sir A. Helps. 
 Curiosities of Criticism. H. J. Jennings. 
 Holmes's Autocrat of Breakfast-Table. 
 Pencil and Palette. By R. Kempt. 
 
 Post 8vo, cloth limp, Ss. 6d. per Volume. 
 Little Essays: from Lamb's Letters. 
 Forensic Anecdotes. By Jacob Larwooo 
 Theatrical Anecdotes. Jacob Larwood. 
 Jeux d'Esprit. Edited by Henry S. Leigh. 
 Witch Stories. By E. Lykn Linton. 
 Ourselves. By E. Lynn Linton. 
 Pastimes & Players. By R. Macgregor. 
 New Paul and Yirginia. W.H.Mallock. 
 New Republic. By W. H. Mallock. 
 Puck on Pegasus. By H. C. Pennell. 
 Pegasus Re-Saddlcd. By H. C. Pennell. 
 Muses of Mayfair. Ed. H. C. Pennell. 
 Thoreau : His Life & Aims. By H. A. Page. 
 Puniana. By Hon. Hugh Rowley. 
 More Puniana. By Hon. Hugh Rowley. 
 The Philosophy of Handwriting. 
 By Stream and Sea. By Wm. Senior. 
 Leaves from a Naturalist's Note-Book. 
 By Dr. Andrew Wilson. 
 
 THE GOLDEN LIBRARY. 
 Bayard Taylor's Diversions of the Echo 
 
 Club. 
 Bennett's Ballad History of England. 
 Bennett's Songs for Sailors. 
 Godwin's Lives of the Necromancers. 
 Pope's Poetical Works. 
 Holmes's Autocrat of Breakfast Table. 
 
 Post 8vo, cloth limp, 28. per Volume. 
 Holmes's Professor at Breakfast Table. 
 Jesse's Scenes of Country Life. 
 Leigh Hunt's Tale for a Chimney 
 
 Corner. 
 Mallory's Mort d'Arthur: Selections. 
 Pascal's Provincial Letters. 
 Rochefoucauld's Maxims & Reflections. 
 
 THE WANDERER'S LIBRARY 
 
 Wanderings in Patagonia. By Julius 
 
 Bekrbohm. Illustrated. 
 Camp Notes. By Frederick Boyle. 
 Savage Life. By Frederick Boyle. 
 Merrle England in the Olden Time. By 
 
 G. Daniel, Illustrated by Cruikshank. 
 Circus Life. By Thomas Frost. 
 Lives of the Conjurers. Thomas Frost. | 
 The Old Showmen and the Old London 
 
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 Low-Life Deeps. By James Greenwood, i 
 
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 Wilds of London. James Greenwood. 
 Tunis. Chev. Hesse-Wartegg. 22lllusfs. 
 Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack. 
 World Behind the Scenes. P.Fitzgerald. 
 Tavern Anecdotes and Sayings. 
 The Genial Showman. ByE.P. Hingston. 
 Story of London Parks. Jacob Larwood. 
 London Characters. By Henry Mayhew. 
 Seven Generations of Executioners. 
 Summer Cruising in the South Seas. 
 
 liy C. Warren Stoddard. Illustrated. 
 
 POPULAR SHILLING BOOKS. 
 
 Harry Fludyer at Cambridge. 
 Jeff Briggs's Love Story. Bret Harte. 
 Twins of Table Mountain. Bret Harte. 
 A Day's Tour. By Percy Fitzgerald, 
 Esther's Glove. ByR.E. Francillon. 
 Sentenced 1 By Somerville Gibnev. 
 The Professor's Wife. By L.Graham. 
 Mrs. Gainsborough's Diamonds. By 
 
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 HfsLgara Spray. By J. Hollingshead, 
 A Romance of the Queen's Hounds. By 
 
 Charles James. 
 The Garden that Paid the Rent. By 
 
 Tom Jerrold. 
 Cut by the Mess. By Arthur Keyser. 
 Our Sensation Novel. J. H. McCarthy. 
 Doom! By Justin H. McCarthy, M. P. 
 Dolly. By Justin H. McCarthy, M.P. 
 Lily Lass. Justin H. McCarthy. M.P. 
 
 Was She Good or Bad? By W. Minto. 
 That Girl in Black. Mrs. Molesworth. 
 Notes from the "News." ByjAs. Payn. 
 Beyond the Gates. By E. S. Phelps. 
 Old Maid's Paradise. By E, S. Phelps. 
 Burglars in Paradise. By E. S. Phelps. 
 Jack the Fisherman. By E. S. Phelps. 
 Trooping with Crows. By C. L, Pirkis. 
 Bible Charactei'S. By Charles Reads. 
 Rogues. By R. H. Sherard. 
 The Dagonet Reciter. By G. R. Sims. 
 Hov/ the Poor Live. By G. R. Sims. 
 Case of George Candlemas. G. R. Sims. 
 Sandycroft Mystery. T. W. Speight. 
 Hoodwinked. By T, W. Speight, 
 Father Damien. By R, L, Stevenson. 
 A Double Bond. By Linda Villari. 
 My Life with S^nley's Rear Guard. By 
 Herbert Ward. 
 
CHATTO 8c WINDUS, 214, PICCADILLY. 
 
 27 
 
 MY LIBRARY. 
 
 Choice Works, printed on laid paper, bound half-Roxburghe, 2». 6(1. each. 
 Four Frenchwomen. Bv Austin Dobson. I Christie Johnstone. By Charles Reade. 
 Citation and Examination of William With a Photogravure Frontispiece. 
 
 Shakspeare. By W. S. Landor. | Peg WofRngton. By Charles Reade. 
 
 THE POCKET LIBRARY. PostSvo 
 
 The Essays of Elia. By Charles Lamb. 
 Robinson Crusoe. Edited by John Major. 
 
 With 37 lilusts. bv George Cruikshank. 
 Whims and Oddities. BiThcmas Hood. 
 
 With Ss Illustrations. 
 The Barber's Chair, and The Hedgehog 
 
 Letters. By DounLAS Jerkold. 
 Gastronomy as a Fine Art. By Briltat- 
 
 Savarin. Trans. R. E. Anderson, M.A. 
 
 printed on laid paper and hf.-bd., 89. each. 
 The Epicurean, &c. By Thomas Moore. 
 Leigh Hunt's Essays. Ed. E. Ollier, 
 The Natural History of Selborne. By 
 
 Gilbkrt White. 
 Gulliver's Travels, and The Tale of a 
 
 Tub. By Dean Swift. 
 The Rivals, School for Scandal, and other 
 
 Plavs by Richard Brinsley Sheridan. 
 Anecdotes of the Clergy. J. Larwood. 
 
 THE PICCADILLY NOVELS. 
 
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 crown 8vo, cloth 
 By OR ANT Af.I.EX. 
 
 Phiiistia. I For Maimie's Sake. 
 
 Babylon I The Devil's Die. 
 
 In all Shades. I This Mortal Coil. 
 The Tents of Shem. | The Great Taboo. 
 
 By Al.AIV »T. AUBYi\. 
 
 A Fellow of Trinity. 
 By Kev. S. BARIIVa OOULD. 
 
 Red Spider. | Eve. 
 
 By W. BESANT & J. KICK. 
 
 My Little Girl. By Celia's Arbour. 
 
 Case of Mr.Lucraft. Monks of Thelema. 
 This Son of Vulcan. The Seamy Side. 
 Golden Butterfly. Ten Years' Tenant. 
 Ready-Money Mortiboy. 
 With Harp and Crown. 
 'Twas in Trafalgar's Bay. 
 The Chaplain of the Fleet. 
 
 By ^VAI/FEB BFSA> T. 
 All Sorts and Conditions of Men. 
 The Captains' Room. 
 All in a Garden Fair 
 The World Went Very Well Then. 
 For Faith and Freedom. 
 Dorothy Forster. | Herr Paulas. 
 Uncl£ Jack. Bell of St. Paul's. 
 
 Childrenof Gibeon. | To Call Her Mine. 
 
 By ROBERT BFCIIAXAx-V. 
 The Shadow of the Sword. 
 A Child of Nature. 
 The Martyrdom of Madeline. 
 
 The New Abelard. 
 Foxglove Manor. 
 Master of the Mine. 
 Heir of Linne. 
 .\E. 
 
 God and the Man. 
 Lova Me for Ever. 
 Annan Water. 
 Matt. 
 
 Bv IfAI.f. CAl 
 The Shadow of a Crime. 
 A Son of Hagar. | The Deemster. 
 1^1 ORT. iV FRA^C i:f«i ( 4> B.I.I i\.<ii. 
 Sweet Anne Page. ' Transmigration. 
 From Midnight to Midnight. 
 Blacksmith and Scholar. 
 Village Comedy. , You Play r^o False 
 
 the Best Authors, many Illustrated, 
 extra, lis. 6<1. each. 
 
 By ITIrN.II. EOVETT f'AITIEROX. 
 
 Juliet's Guardian. | Deceivers Ever. 
 l"OI^EB.\!«*. 
 
 The Frozen Deep. 
 The Two Destinies. 
 Law and the Lady. 
 Haunted Hotel. 
 The Fallen Leaves. 
 Jezebel's Daughter. 
 The Black Robe. 
 Heart and Science. 
 "I Say No." 
 Little Novels. 
 The Evil Genius. 
 The Legacy of Cain 
 A Rogue's Life. 
 Blind Love. 
 
 By Ol'TT<».\ COOai. 
 
 Paul Foster's Daughter. 
 
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 Hearts of Gold. 
 
 ByAEPHOXSE DAUDET. 
 
 The Evangelist; or, Port Salvation. 
 
 By JA.^IES DE ITIIM.E. 
 
 A Castle in Spain. 
 
 By J. r.EITll DERWEM'. 
 
 Our Lady of Tears. 1 Circe's Lovars. 
 
 By Mi«. AIV.-VIE E» WAR !>£•«. 
 
 Archie Lovell. 
 
 By IVllililE 
 
 Armadale. 
 After Dark. 
 No Name. 
 Antonina. | Basil. 
 Hide and Seek. 
 The Dead Secret. 
 Queen of Hearts. 
 My Miscellanies. 
 Woman in White 
 The Moonstone. 
 Man and Wife. 
 PoDr Miss Finch. 
 Miss or Mrs? 
 New Magdalen. 
 
 By PERCV 
 
 Fatal Zero. 
 
 FITZGERALTJ. 
 
 By R. E. FRA>'riEI.I).\. 
 
 8ueen Cophetua. I A Real Queen, 
 ne by On«. | King or Knave? 
 
 Pirl.hy Mil- BARTIiE FRERE. 
 
 Pandurang Hari. 
 
 By El>\l AKU GARRETT. 
 
 The Capel Girls. 
 
28 
 
 BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 The Piccadilly (3/G) Ko\kls— continued. 
 
 By CHAKIiES GIBBOIV. 
 Robin Gray. | The Golden Shaft. 
 
 In Honour Bound. | Of High Degree. 
 Loving a Dream. 
 Queen of the Meadow. 
 The Flower of the Forest. 
 
 By jrULilAN lUA^VTSSOSSlVE. 
 Garth. I Dust. 
 
 Ellice Qusntin. Fortune's Fool. 
 
 Sebastian Strome. | Beatrix Randolph. 
 David Poindexter's Disappearance. 
 The Spectre of the Camera. 
 
 By Sin- A. BBEIjPS. 
 Ivan de Biron. 
 
 By ISAAC HEIVOEKSOIV. 
 Agatha Page. 
 
 By Mrs. AliFREO lOJIVT. 
 The Leaden Casket. 1 Self-Condemned. 
 That other Person. 
 
 By JEAIV IIVOEIiO^V. 
 Fated to be Free. 
 
 By K. ASSBE MaXG. 
 A Drawn Game. 
 "The Wearing of the Green." 
 
 By MENKY KINGSLEV. 
 Number Seventeen. 
 
 By E. fiVIVIV EIIVTOX. 
 Patricia Kemball. I lone. 
 Under which Lord? Paston Carew. 
 "My Love!" I Sowing the Wind. 
 
 The Atonement of Learn Dundas. 
 The World Well Lost. 
 
 By IIENKY AV. liUCV. 
 Gideon Fleyce. 
 
 By .IBL'STaiV McCARTIIV. 
 A Fair Saxon. I Donna Quixote. 
 
 Linley Koohford. Maid of Athens. 
 Miss Misanthrope. I Camiola. 
 The Waterdale Naighboui's. ^ 
 My Enemy's Daughter. 
 Dear Lady Disdain. 
 The Cornet of a Season. 
 
 By A«NE.*i MA€I>OIVEILfi. 
 Quaker Cousins. 
 
 By FI.©KENCE MARKYAT. 
 Open I Sesame ! 
 
 S5y 1?. C;Bai£BST8E MURRAY. 
 Life's Atonement. I Coals of Fire. 
 Joseph's Coat. Yal Strange. 
 
 A Model Father. 1 Hearts. 
 A Bit of Human Natui-e. 
 First Person Singular. 
 Cynic Fortune. 
 The Way of the World. 
 
 By ITEURKAY & SEEKMAN. 
 The Bishops' Bible. 
 
 By «E©K«ES 02SrVET. 
 A Weird Gift. 
 
 The Piccadilly (3/6) Nove-ls— continued. 
 
 By Mvs. OlilPIIANT. 
 
 Whiteladies. 
 
 By 05JIOA. 
 Held in Bondage. | Two Little Wooden 
 Strathmore. j Shoes. 
 
 Chandos. i In a Winter City. 
 
 Under Two Flags. I Ariadne. 
 
 Idaiia. 
 CecilCastlemaine's 
 
 Gage. 
 Tricotrin. I Puck. 
 Folle Farine. 
 A Dog of Flanders. 
 Pascarel. | Signa. 
 Princess Haprax- j 
 
 Friendship. 
 Moths. I Rufflno. 
 Pipistrello. 
 AYiilage Commune 
 Bimbi. | Wanda. 
 Frescoes. 
 In Maremma. 
 Othmar. | Syrlin. 
 ine. ' Guilderoy. 
 
 By r»IARCJARET A. IPAUS., 
 Gentle and Simple. 
 
 By .JAMES PAYIV. 
 
 Lost Sir Massiagberd. 
 
 Less Black than We're Painted. 
 
 A Confidential Agent. 
 
 A Grape from a Thorn. 
 
 Some Private Viev/s. 
 
 In Peril and Privation. 
 
 The Mystery of Mirbridge. 
 
 The Canon's Ward. 
 
 Walter's Word. 
 By Proxy. 
 High Spirits. 
 Under One Roof. 
 From Exile. 
 
 Valentina. 
 
 Glow-worm Talcs, 
 Talk of the Town. 
 Holiday Tasks. 
 The Burnt Million. 
 Sunny Stories. 
 
 By E. C. FRBCE. 
 
 The Foreigners, 
 Mrs. Lancaster's Rival. 
 
 By CSiIAKa.ES READE. 
 
 It is Never Too Late to Mend. 
 
 The Double Marriage. 
 
 Love Me Little, Love Me Long, 
 
 The Cloister and the Hearth. 
 
 The Course of True Love. 
 
 The Autobiography of a Thief, 
 
 Put Yourself in his Place. 
 
 A Terrible Temptation. 
 
 Singleheart and Doubleface. 
 
 Good Stories of Men and other Animals. 
 
 Hard Cash. 
 Peg Woffington. 
 ChristieJohnstone. 
 Griffith Gaunt. 
 Foul Play. 
 
 Wandering Heir. 
 A Woman-Hater 
 A Simpleton. 
 Readiana. 
 
 The Jilt. 
 
 I My 'Mr^ J. H. l£JB>BJ>EILIy. 
 
 i Her Mother's Darling, 
 i Prince of Wales's Garden Party. 
 Weird Stories. 
 
 By E. W. K®BIIVS®IY. 
 Women are Strange. 
 The Hands of Justice. 
 
 S2y Vi\ CffiAKK RUSSEJLIx 
 An Ocean Tragedy. 
 i By .IOIS.I\' SAUNUEKS, 
 
 I Guy Waterman. ! Two Dreamers, 
 i Bound to the Wheel 
 ' The Lion in the Path, 
 
CHATTO ^ WINDU3, 214, PICCADILLY. 
 
 29 
 
 The Piccadilly (3/6) liovF.i.s— continued. 
 
 By ICATIIARIXE SAUNOEKS. 
 
 Margaret and Elizabeth. 
 
 Gideon's Rock. I Heart Salvage. 
 
 The Higli Mills. 1 Sebastian. 
 
 Br HA-^VLKV SlIAIST. 
 
 Without Lov3 or Licence. 
 
 By K. A. STEBIV1DAI.-S:. 
 The Afghan Knife. 
 
 By BEKTgIA THOITIAr^. 
 Proud Maisie. | Cressida. 
 
 The Yiolin-player. 
 
 By FKAACES E. TROi-IiOPE. 
 Like Ships upon the Sea. 
 Anne Furness. | Mabel's Progress. 
 
 Thk Piccadilly (3/6) How Khs— continued. 
 
 By AIVTHONA' TROEEOPE. 
 
 Frau Frohmann. 1 Kept in the Dark. 
 Marion Fay. | Land-Leaguers. 
 
 The Way We Live Now. 
 Mr. Scarborough's Family. 
 
 Br IVAN TEK«ENIEFF, &c. 
 Stori3S from Foreign Novelists. 
 
 By C. €". FRASEK-TITTEER. 
 Mistress Judith. 
 
 By SARAH TYTEEB. 
 The Brida's Pass. | Lady Bell. 
 Noblesse Oblige. | Buried Diamonds. 
 What She Came Through. 
 The Blackball Ghosts. 
 
 CHEAP EDITIONS OF 
 
 Post Svo, iliustrated 
 
 By ARTE:TirS ^VABD. | 
 
 Artemus Ward Complete. ; 
 
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 The Feliah. 
 
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 Philistia. This Mortal Coil. 
 
 Babylon. I In all Shades. 
 
 The Beckoning H9.nd. 
 For Maimie's Sake. | Tents of Shem. 
 
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 Red Spider. 1 Eve. 
 
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 Fettered for Life. 
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 Grantley Grange. 
 
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 ThisSonofYulcan. 
 My Little Girl 
 
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 Monks of Tlielema. 
 The Seamy Side. 
 Tan Years? Tenant. 
 
 CaseofMr.Lucraft. 
 Golden Butterfly. 
 Ready-Money Mortiboy. 
 With Harp and Crov/n. 
 'Twas in Trafalgar's Bay. 
 The Chaplain of the Fleet. 
 
 By AVAETER BES4NT. 
 Dorothy Forster. I Uncle Jack. 
 Children of Gibeon. [ Herr Pauius. 
 All Sorts and Conditions of Men. 
 The Captains' Room. 
 All in a Garden Fair. 
 The World Went Very V/ell Then. 
 For Faith and Freedom. 
 
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 Camp Notes. | Savage Life. 
 
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 Br filAROEO BBi'OCJES. 
 Uncle Sam a,t Home. 
 
 By ROBERT BUCHANAN. 
 The Shadow of the The Martyrdom of 
 
 Sword. Madeline. 
 
 A Child of Nature. Anr.an Water. 
 God and the Man. The New Abelard. 
 Love Ma for Ever. 1 Matt. 
 Foxglove Manoi\ i The Heir of Linne. 
 The Master of the Mine. 
 
 By lEAEE CAINE. 
 The Shadow of a Crime. 
 A Son of Hagar. | The Deemster. 
 
 Br €'on»anaujlrr ('A3IERO.'V. 
 
 The Cruise of the "Black Prince.'' 
 By -Ill's. EOl'ETT CAMERON 
 Deceivers Ever. | Juliet's Guardiap 
 
 Br Aa^'.^TEV CEARE. 
 For the Love of a Lass. 
 
 By 7)lr^. ARCHER CEIVE. 
 Paul Ferroll. 
 Why PaurFo.rroll-KJIiod his Wife. 
 
 By ITSACir.A.REN COBBAN. 
 The Cure of Souls. 
 
 By i'. AEE**TON COEEIN.^. 
 Th3 3%v Sinister. 
 
 .TDOtlT. A- FR.l.\rEW C(f>EEB.\.>d 
 Sweet Anne Pago. I Transmigration. 
 From Midnight co Midnight. 
 A Fight with Fortune. 
 Sy/iet and Twenty. I Village Comedy. 
 Frances. I You Play me False. 
 
 Blacksmith and Scholar. 
 
30 
 
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 My Miscellanies. 
 Woman in White. 
 The Moonstone. 
 Man and Wife. 
 Poor Miss Finch. 
 The Fallen Leaves. 
 Jezebel's Daughter 
 The Black Robe. 
 Heart and Science. 
 "I Say No." 
 The Evil Genius, 
 Little Novels. 
 
 Two. Shilling t^ovEi^s—contimicd. 
 
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 Armadale. | A Rogue's Life 
 
 After Dark, 
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 Hide and Seek. 
 The Dead Secret. 
 Queen of Hearts. 
 Miss or Mrs? 
 New Magdalen. 
 The Frozen Deep. 
 Law and the Lady, 
 The Two Destinies, 
 Haunted Hotel. 
 Legacy of Cain. 
 
 By Its. J. COLQUIIOUN. 
 Every Inch a Soldier. 
 
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 Leo. I Paul Foster's Daughter. 
 
 By C EOBERT C'KAl>DO<^K. 
 Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains. 
 
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 Hearts of Gold. 
 
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 The Evangelist; or, Port Salvation. 
 
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 A Castlfi in Spain. 
 
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 Our Lady of Tears. 1 Circe's Lovers. 
 
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 Sketches by Boz. I Oliver Twist. 
 Pickwick Papers. | Nicholas Nickleby. 
 
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 Tracked and Taken. 
 Who Poisoned Hetty Duncan? 
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 A Detective's Triumphs. 
 
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 Strange Secrets. 
 
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 Fnthy Lucre. 
 
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 Beth's Brother's Wife. 
 The Lawton Girl. 
 
 Two- Shilling Kov els— continued. 
 
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 One of Two. 
 
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 The Capel Girls. 
 
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 In Honour Bound. 
 Flower of Forest, 
 Braes of Yarrow. 
 The Golden Shaft. 
 Of High Degree. 
 Mead and Stream. 
 Loving a Dream. 
 A Hard Knot. 
 Heart's Delight. 
 Blood-Money. 
 
 Robin Gray. l 
 
 Fancy Free. 
 For Lack of Gold. 
 What will the 
 
 World Say? 
 In Love and War. 
 For the King. 
 In Pastures Green. 
 Queen of Meadow. 
 A Heart's Problem. 
 The Dead Heart. 
 
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 Dr. Austin's Guests. I James Duke. 
 The Wizard of the Mountain. 
 
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 A Noble Woman. 
 
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 Brueton's Bayou. | Country Luck. 
 
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 Paul Wynter's Sacrifice. 
 
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 Under the Greenwood Tree. 
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 The Tenth Earl. 
 
 Bv JCEIAIV IIAWTIIORIVE. 
 
 Sebastian Strome. 
 
 Dust. 
 
 Beatrix Randolph. 
 
 Love— or a Name. 
 
 Garth. 
 
 Ellice Quentin. 
 
 Fortune's Fool. 
 
 Miss Cadogna. 
 
 David Poindexter's Disappearance. 
 
 The Spectre of the Camera. 
 
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 Ivan de Biron. 
 
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 The Lover's Creed. 
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 The House of Raby. 
 
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 'Twixt Love and Duty. 
 
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 Thornicroft's Model, j Self Condemned. 
 That Other Person. | Leaden Casket. 
 
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 Fated to be Free. 
 
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 The Dark Colleen. 
 The Queen of Connaught. 
 
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 Colonial Facts and Fictions. 
 
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 A Drawn Game. | Passion's Slave* 
 "The Wearing of the Green." 
 
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 Oakshott Castle. 
 
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 The Lindsays. 
 
 By ITIARY I.INSKILI.. 
 
 In Exchange for a Soul. 
 
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 Patricia Kemball. I Paston Carew. 
 
 World Well Lost. '-My Love!" 
 
 Under which Lord? I lone. 
 
 The Atonement of Leara Dundas. 
 
 With a Silken Thread. 
 
 The Rebel of the Family. 
 
 Bowing the Wind. 
 
 Br HENKY W. I. ICY. 
 Gideon Fleyce. 
 
 Br JrSTIiV ITIcCAKTIlY. 
 A Pair Saxon. I Donna Quixote. 
 
 Unley Rochford. Maid of Athens. 
 Miss Misanthrope. | Camioia. 
 Dear Lady Disdain. 
 The Waterdale Neighbours. 
 My Enemy's Daughter. 
 The Comet of a Season. 
 
 By A«NES ITIACBOXEI.I.. 
 
 Qaaker Cousins. 
 
 KATHARINE S. ITIACQIOID. 
 
 The Evil Eye. | Lost Rose. 
 
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 The New Republic. 
 By FliORE^it E ITIARRYAT. 
 
 Open! Sesame! \ Fighting the Air. 
 A Harvest of Wild Oats. 
 Written In Fire. 
 
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 Haifa-dozen Daughters. 
 
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 k Secret of the Sea. 
 
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 Touch and Go. i Mr. Dorillion. 
 
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 Hathercourt Rectory. 
 
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 Stories Weird and Wonderful. 
 The Dead Man's Secret. 
 
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 A Model Father. Old Blazer's Hero. 
 Joseph's Coat. Hearts. 
 
 Coals of Fire. Y/ay of the World. 
 
 Yal Strange. Cynic Fortune. 
 
 A Life's Atonement. 
 By the Gate of the Sea. 
 A Bit of Human Nature. 
 First Person Singular. 
 
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 Paul Jones's Alias. 
 
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 Doctor Rameau. | A Last Love. 
 
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 Whlteladies. | The Primrose Path, 
 
 The Greatest Heiress in England. 
 
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 Phoebe's Fortunes. 
 
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 A Dog of Flanders. 
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 Signa. 
 Princess Naprax- 
 
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 In a Winter City. 
 
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 The Unforeseen. 
 
 0'IEA>D.O\. 
 
 I Chance? or Fate? 
 
 Com* 
 
 IB A, 
 
 Two Little Wooden 
 
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 Ariadne. 
 Friendship. 
 Moths. 
 Pipistrcllo. 
 A Village 
 
 mune. 
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 Othmar. 
 Gullderoy. 
 Ouida's Wisdom, 
 
 Wit, and Pathos. 
 
 iTIARGARET AGNES PAUL.. 
 
 Gentle and Simple. 
 
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 Mirk Abbey. 
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 High Spirits. 
 Carlyon's Year. 
 From Exile. 
 For Cash Only. 
 Kit. 
 
 The Canon's Ward 
 Talk of the Town. 
 Holiday Tasks. 
 
 Bentlnck's Tutor. 
 
 Murphy's Master. 
 
 A County Family. 
 
 At Her Mercy. 
 
 Cecil's Tryst. 
 
 Clyffards of Clyffe. 
 
 Foster Brothers. 
 
 Found Dead. 
 
 Best of Husbands. 
 
 Walter's Word. 
 
 Halves. 
 
 Fallen Fortunes. 
 
 Humorous Stories. 
 
 Lost Sir Massingberd 
 
 A Perfect Treasure. 
 
 A Woman's Vengeance. 
 
 The Family Scapegrace, 
 
 What He Cost Her. 
 
 Gwendoline's Harvest. 
 
 Like Father, Like Son. 
 
 Married Beneath Him. 
 
 Not Wooed, but Won. 
 
 Less Black than We're Painted, 
 
 A Confidential Agent. 
 
 Some Private Views. 
 
 A Grape from a Thorn. 
 
 Glow-worm Tales. 
 
 The Mystery of MIrbridge. 
 
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 Lady Lovelace. 
 
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 The Mystery of Marie Roget. 
 
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 Valentlna. I The Foreigners, 
 
 Mrs. Lancaster's Rival. 
 Gerald. 
 
32 
 
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 By CIIARJLES JREAH>E. 
 
 It is Never Too Late to Mend. 
 
 Christie Jolinstone. 
 
 Put Yourself in His Place. 
 
 Tlie Doable Marriage. 
 
 Love Me Little, Love Me Lon^. 
 
 The Cloister and the Hearih. 
 
 The Course of True Love. 
 
 Autobiography of a Thief. 
 
 A Terrible Temptation. 
 
 The Wandering Heir. 
 
 Singleheart and Doublcface. 
 
 Good Stories of Men and other Animals. 
 
 Hard Cash. I A Simpleton. 
 
 Peg Woffington. I Readiana. 
 
 Griffith Gaunt, I A Wcman-Hater. 
 
 Foul Play. | The Jilt. 
 
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 Weird Stories. I Fairy Water. 
 Her Mother's Darling. 
 Prince of Wales's Garden Party. 
 The Uninhabited House. 
 The Mystery in Palace Gardens. 
 
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 Women arc Strange. 
 The Hands of Justice. 
 
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 Skippers and Shellbacks. 
 Grace Balmaign's Sweetheart. 
 Schools and Scholars. 
 
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 A Book for the Hammock. 
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 An Ocean Tragedy. 
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 The Lion in the Path. 
 
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 Joan Merryweather. I Heart Salvage. 
 The High Mills. | Sebastian. 
 
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 Rogues and Vagabonds. 
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 linkietop's Crime. 
 
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 Hoodwinked, &c. 
 
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 Cressida. | Proud Maisie. 
 
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 Tales for the Marines. 
 Old Stories Re-told. 
 
 T. AIXOIiF'IIUS TROtiliOFE. 
 Diamond Cut Diamond. 
 
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 Like Ships upon the Sea. 
 
 Anne Furness. i Mabel's Progress. 
 
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 Frau Frohmaun. I Kept in the Dark, 
 Marion Fay. | John Caldigaic. 
 
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 Mr. Scarborough's Family, 
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 Farnell's Folly. 
 
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 Stories from Foreign Novelists. 
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 Tom Sawyer. | A Tramp Abroad. 
 
 The Stolen White Elephant. 
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 Huckleberry Finn. 
 Life on the Mississippi. 
 The Prince and the Pauper. 
 
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 Mistress Judith. 
 
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 The Bride's Pass. I Noblesse Oblige. 
 Buried Diamonds. | Disappeared. 
 Saint Mungo's City. I Huguenot FamiJy, 
 Lady Bell. | Blackhall Ghci-tt. 
 
 What She Came Through. 
 Beauty and the Beast. 
 Citoyenne Jaquoline. 
 
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 Cavalry Life. j Regimental Legends. 
 
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 The Passenger from Scotland Yard, 
 The Englishman of the Eua Cain. 
 
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 Sabina. 
 j C'EB.IA FARKER IVOOl.S.EY, 
 Rachel Armstrong ; or, Love & Theology 
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 I The Forlorn Hope. | Land at Last. 
 i Castaway. 
 
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