the complaint was made jested about it over the bar to the one against whom it was made, so that Miriam's next greeting from this now offended individual was:

"Lots of good tattle tales get when they run with their baby stories to people." Then imitating a naughty child, "Ya-ya, I'll tell mamma on you, you mean thing," this in the presence of every one in the company and incidentally while the tears silently rolled down Miriam's cheeks, but with no rebuke from any one to the offender.

Never, in the twenty years of my experience in the theatrical profession (covering intimate association with many various companies from the third rate to the very highest), never, have I seen a man defend a woman who was being actually abused by tongue and manner by another man in some authority. I have seen husbands stand calmly by and hear all sorts of vituperation heaped upon their wives by stage managers or men who felt they had the power to do so, with never a word of protest, and, if questioned on the subject, the answer was that "managers object to engaging married couples because if one has a quarrel the other takes sides, and both eventually have to leave"; so, in order to hold their engagements, they must keep silence as well.

CHAPTER VIII.

BACK TO THE RIALTO.

In spite of our manager's affirmation as to the popularity of our manly (?) leading man, our business was anything but flourishing, and after the third week rumors dire and dreary floated about our heads.

A

"What do you think?" exclaimed Dainty, one evening, "I heard one of the boys say to-day that it looked as if it was all up with the season as the backer is getting cold feet, losing so much money, without having one of us girls make up to him, so he doesn't think he's really getting that money's worth. good loser would go on and finish out the ten weeks if it took every cent he had, but I suppose old Cheapsides (the manager) fed him up on this being a great chance 'to get next to an actress' to get his money, and now he's sore. Gee! I wish I'd known it sooner, but I saw he was making a play for baby eyes here, and I gave her such good advice too; but, bless you, she never even saw him;" and she went off into her usual boisterous laughter.

If she had referred to me in her peculiar appellation I am sure I never did. I was too busy with my work to "see" any one, and I must say this man had only

When I made some

been friendly and courteous. such defense for him, Dainty only threw back her pretty head and exclaimed:

"Child alive! you don't suppose he's going to break the ice and get himself into trouble, do you? He may be a married man, and if he spoke first you'd have the innings to go and tell wifie, if you didn't happen to kitten."

She was always talking in this vein, and I had come now to pay very little attention to her; so she went on:

"Golly, I haven't saved a cent all season, and I'm in debt for clothes on this job. Oh Lord! if we close now with nothing to do all summer, you'll see me going around in cabs and things in New York, with 'em with noses like this," and she circled a large hook in the air with her pretty finger.

Of course, we laughed at her, and Miriam said: "You ought not to worry, Sneak has been at work all winter at a good salary."

"Yes," observed Dainty, "which he has spent long ago, or if not 'divil's the cint he'll ge ta me,' (rashly mixing her Irish and Scotch). Not him! Why when we were in vaudeville, doing a sketch, he gave me a salary and by golly, I had to pay my own expenses even to half the rent of our room in hotels. Fine for the lillies!"

She said everything so good naturedly and had such pretty dimples that one never felt like expending any sympathy on her. And yet hers was really a

domestic tragedy, for she loved Sneak devotedly and he probably had a kind of regard for her, but still did not consider it incumbent upon him to contribute to her wants in any degree. She was a bread winner the same as he, capable of commanding a fair salary, and why should she not take care of herself?

Poor Dainty! one could not help liking her. Even if she was a cynic she was a most good natured one, and if she had any great heart sorrows she kept them to herself.

But now we had to look at our own account, and to our horror, in the secret of our own rooms, we found we, too, were terribly in debt, not only to the management, which meant possibly no salary coming to us if the crash came soon, but also to various tradespeople in the city in which we were playing.

"Oh!" cried Miriam, when we had finished making up our accounts for the first time, "we really ought to have kept track better. What shall we do?”

"Well," I observed trying to be consoling, “we simply had to have the gowns.'

"Yes, I know," she acquiesced dubiously, "but now we have them, and we've only worked three weeks, and we were promised ten."

"I suppose we must count it as profit and loss," I said, although I felt even bluer than I dared show, "and, besides, we can use the gowns again."

"May be," she returned, "it depends on what kind of engagements we get. Oh, it's unfair!" and she arose and paced up and down the room.

My exuberant Miriam, I knew she must be in distress to take it so to heart. After all it was only one of those obstacles which we were to consider nil in our climbing. Her mouth was drawn and hard, and her gray eyes lusterless, and when I put my arms around her in sympathy those beautiful Irish orbs filled with tears.

"I haven't spoken of it," she said, trying to smile, "but we, our folks I mean, are dreadfully poor. Mamma does a little something at sewing out by the day, but I have a sister who is an invalid and mamma cannot always leave her. I've been away four years now, and have been able to send them scarcely anything, and when I went with 'father's' company this season I had so hoped this summer I could give them an outing and-" she broke down and sobbed on my shoulder. My light hearted Miriam! But even the most optimistic of us have our moments when the sun seems to refuse to shine.

There was, of course, but one thing to be done, if the crash came, and that was to get out of debt to the merchants in the city and then see about getting through the summer, for another engagement that season was out of the question. If we closed the next week, far from getting any salary, Miriam would be behind with the management and so unable to satisfy the trades people. My salary would just about come out even, and I had sundry bills to meet. Like all good Thespians, however, we put off the actual arranging to do anything until the crash came, if it