She had brought in her sewing, and David pretended
to read. Now and then he looked at his watch.
At midnight they heard the car go in, and the slamming
of the stable door, followed by Dick’s footsteps
on the walk outside. Lucy was very pale, and
the hands that held her sewing twitched nervously.
Suddenly she stood up and put a hand on David’s
shoulder.
Dick was whistling on the kitchen porch.
Louis Bassett was standing at the back of the theater,
talking to the publicity man of The Valley company,
Fred Gregory. Bassett was calm and only slightly
interested. By the end of the first act he had
realized that the star was giving a fine performance,
that she had even grown in power, and that his sentimental
memory of her was considerably dearer than the reality.
“Going like a house afire,” he said, as
the curtain fell.
Beside his robust physique, Gregory, the publicity
man, sank into insignificance. Even his pale
spats, at which Bassett had shot a contemptuous glance,
his highly expensive tailoring, failed to make him
appear more than he was, a little, dapper man, with
a pale cold eye and a rather too frequent smile.
“She’s the best there is,” was
his comment. He hesitated, then added: “She’s
my sister, you know. Naturally, for business
reasons, I don’t publish the relationship.”
Bassett glanced at him.
“That so? Well, I’m glad she decided
to come back. She’s too good to bury.”
But if he expected Gregory to follow the lead he was
disappointed. His eyes, blank and expressionless,
were wandering over the house as the lights flashed
up.
“This whole tour has been a triumph. She’s
the best there is,” Gregory repeated, “and
they know it.”
“Does she know it?” Bassett inquired.
“She doesn’t throw any temperament, if
that’s what you mean. She—”
He checked himself suddenly, and stood, clutching
the railing, bent forward and staring into the audience.
Bassett watched him, considerably surprised.
It took a great deal to startle a theatrical publicity
man, yet here was one who looked as though he had seen
a ghost.
After a time Gregory straightened and moistened his
dry lips.
“There’s a man sitting down there—see
here, the sixth row, next the aisle; there’s
a girl in a blue dress beside him. See him?
Do you know who he is?”
“Never saw him before.”
For perhaps two minutes Gregory continued to stare.
Then he moved over to the side of the house and braced
against the wall continued his close and anxious inspection.
After a time he turned away and, passing behind the
boxes, made his way into the wings. Bassett’s
curiosity was aroused, especially when, shortly after,
Gregory reappeared, bringing with him a small man
in an untidy suit who was probably, Bassett surmised,
the stage manager.
