Part 7 (2/2)

”Say, Miss Ellins,” says I, after she'd squeezed herself into her place, pinned her feather lid up in front of her, and opened the choc'late creams, ”I've been in such a dream I didn't look at the outside boards or get a programme. What's doin'--variety or a tumpy-tump show?”

”Why,” says she, ”this is Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet.'”

”Z-z-z-zing!” says I. ”Stung again! Who unloaded the tickets on you?”

What d'ye think, though? She'd picked this show out all by herself, put up real money for it--and that with two Injun drammers runnin' right on Broadway! Said she'd seen the same thing half a dozen times before, too.

Aw, say! I couldn't get next to any such batty move as that. And when I thought how this was my first plunge into a two-dollar chair, it made me sore.

”Wake me up when it's all over,” says I, and settles back for a real rest.

There's where I hung out the wrong number. That wa'n't any dope drammer at all. Course, Shakespeare don't know how to ring in burnin' flat houses, or mill explosions, or any real thrillers like that; but there's somethin' doin' in his pieces. There was in this one, anyway. It was quite some time before I got any glimmer of what it was all about; but before the first act was over I was sittin' up, all right.

”What do you think of her?” says Marjorie.

”The one with the Maxine Elliott eyes and the gushy voice?” says I. ”Oh, I don't call her such a much; but if Romeo wants her as bad as he says he does, I hope it won't be a case of 'My pa won't let me.' But, say, what for did they kill off the only real live one they had, that Mr.

Cuteo? Say, he was all to the good, and it was a shame to have him punctured so quick!”

The parts I liked, though, wa'n't the ones that Marjorie got herself worked up over. It was the balcony scene she'd come for. When they got to that she grips the seat in front and glues her eyes on them two that was swappin' the long, lingerin' breakaway tackles, and every once in awhile she heaves up a sigh like cuttin' out an airbrake.

After it was all over, and most everybody that counted had swallowed knockout drops, Marjorie gives me a sidelight on what's been runnin'

through her head.

”I could do that,” says she. ”I just know I could!”

”Do what?” says I.

”Why, Juliet's part. I've been studying it for months, ever since our cla.s.s gave it at school. They wouldn't give me a part then; but just you wait! I'll show them!”

”You're jos.h.i.+n',” says I.

Honest, I didn't think she meant it. She didn't say any more about it, and all the way home she was as quiet as a bale of hay.

That was the last I see of Marjorie for near a week. Then, one afternoon as I was goin' through Tinpan Alley on an errand, I sees the Ellins carriage pull up, and out she comes.

Now, say, I knew in a minute that wa'n't any place for Marjorie. The buildin' she goes into is one of them old five-story brownstones, where they sell wigs in the bas.e.m.e.nt, costumes on the first floor, have a theatrical agency on the second, and give voice culture and such stuff above. Among the other signs was one that read, ”School of Dramatic Art, Room 9, Fifth Floor.”

”Chee!” says I. ”You don't suppose Marjorie's got it that bad, do you?”

First off I thinks I'll chase along and forget I'd seen anything at all.

Then I thinks of what Mr. Robert would say if he knew, and I stops.

Sure, I hadn't been called to play any b.u.t.tinsky part; but somehow I didn't feel right about stayin' out, so the first thing I knows I'm trailin' up the stairs. There wa'n't any need to do the sleuth act after Marjorie got started. Anyone on the floor could have heard it; for she was spoutin' the Juliet lines like a carriage caller, and whenever she made a rush to the footlights the floor beams creaked. It was enough to drag a laugh out of a hea.r.s.e driver. And guess what the guy was tellin'

her!

”Great!” says he. ”You're almost as good as Mary Anderson was at her best, and as for Marlowe, she can't touch you. Excellent, that last speech! What fire, what expression, what talent! Why, young woman, all you need is a Broadway production to sweep 'em off their feet! I'll arrange it for you. It means money, of course; but after the first cost--fame, nothing but fame!”

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