Elsie Janis

“ Martha's voice expressed curiosity only.
"The time is short, so I will speak plainly," said Gordon, tensely. "I have purposely waited until the last moment so you could see both sides of the picture. On the one hand, here are you, Martha Farnum, about to make your actual appearance as a star at a Broadway theater. In six months or less you have been transformed from a simple country girl to a position often denied those who struggle for many years. Who do you think has accomplished all this for you? Who is making you a star to-night?" ”

“ Martha turned toward him inquiringly, but did not speak.
"I'll assist you," explained Clayton. "Suppose I lend you the necessary capital for you to go to New York and live until you meet with this success you are determined shall come to you?"
"Oh, but I couldn't let you do that," protested Martha. "People might talk, and anyhow, I am determined to succeed on my merits, if at all."
"Wait," interrupted Clayton. "This is a cold-blooded business proposition. If a man opens a store, he must have capital to start with. ”

“ Zinsheimer, New York, feather importer, was particularly grouchy on a certain autumn afternoon when he strolled into the sun parlor on the veranda of the French Lick Springs Hotel. In the vicinity of Broadway and Canal Street, New York, Mr. Zinsheimer was a personage of great importance. Not a cloak model in the Grand Street district but knew him to be "a perfectly lovely gentleman." Not a chorus girl south of Fifty-ninth Street but knew that "Marky" was always a friend in need and a friend indeed. ”

“ Clayton admitted, "especially when your salary leaped upward so amazingly. And I don't blame you for taking a more comfortable apartment in the Webster. Aunt Jane's boarding-house was all right for the chorus girl, but a trifle too passé for the future star."
Martha shook her head sadly. "I think I was happier in those days than now," she mused. "The more one attempts, the greater the chance for failure. To-night I realize what is the ambition of most players, yet, somehow, I am filled with dread. It doesn't seem right that I, plain Martha Farnum, should be rushed upward like a skyrocket. ”

“ Martha faced him bravely enough, though her courage almost failed her.
"Try it and see whose orders will be obeyed. Listen—the orchestra has finished the overture. Think carefully, for your final answer now decides your fate. You are at the parting of the ways. A future with me, everything you desire, or back to your days of poverty."
Weldon appeared as Martha seemed to hesitate.
"Shall I ring up the curtain?" he asked quietly.
"Wait," replied Gordon. He turned to Martha. "Your answer?"
Martha did not look at him. "No," she replied simply. ”

“ Naturally, as so many of her sex have done, she gravitated toward the stage, which always beckons most alluringly to those who have beauty, youth and talent. Too often it is but the Lorelei by which are wrecked the disappointed hopes of those not fitted by nature or temperament for the hardships that must be encountered, but with Mrs. Dainton the struggle for success had been aided materially by the beauty and charm with which she was richly endowed. ”

“ I should be ashamed and humiliated if I secured an engagement through influence, and then failed."
"But why refuse influence?" protested Gordon. "It gives you the opportunity, and that is something every one must have. Many a clever actor and actress is walking Broadway to-day without an engagement, simply because of lack of opportunity. [Pg 109] Now, if Weldon offers you a part in his new production at the Globe Theater, you won't refuse it, will you?" ”

“ Pinkie extended a conciliating hand and said grandly: "Let's be friends, Flossie. A girl shouldn't have enemies in the company."
"It is hard enough to be compelled to accept an engagement in the same company with you," replied Flossie, sarcastically, "but thank goodness, a girl can choose her own friends." ”

“ Clayton laughed again.
"Even that gets tiresome," he said. "The girl in the candy shop never wants a caramel after the third day. Everything grows tiresome after a while. Now that I've exhausted my list of fads, a horrible future confronts me—thirty-three years of [Pg 39] age, enough money to supply my needs, and no new fad on which to waste the surplus. What am I to do?"
"There's always the Salvation Army," laughed Martha. ”

“ Zinsheimer and I are to get married as soon as my lawsuit is settled."
Zinsheimer himself entered at this juncture, and Pinkie was formally introduced to the generous feather importer. She started to cry as he patted her hand cordially, holding it just a trifle longer than was absolutely necessary, and thereby eliciting a warning look from the alert Flossie.
"Oh, Mr. Zinsheimer, it's such a relief to meet a real gentleman," cried Pinkie, half in tears. "Honestly, I could almost hug you for your kindness to a poor little shipwrecked, stranded girl. I am so helpless and alone." ”

“ Youth cannot be chained too tightly without tugging at its bonds. So it was with Martha after four months of the free-and-easy associations behind the scenes, where even the best behaved girl will talk of the little supper at which she was a guest the night before. In fact, the hard work of rehearsals and the unusual hours which the stage requires its people to adopt, often made Martha wish that she, too, could have the freedom and the privileges which the other girls in "The Pet of Paris" enjoyed. ”

“ In the cosmopolitan atmosphere of any famous health resort, strangely contrasting types are often found. Amid the vain, the foolish, the inebriates and the idle who flocked to the Springs for amusement and diversion, there were a few who really came to seek health. For three months, the gay passers-by on the shaded walks near the hotel had noticed one such, an elderly lady, feeble, gray-haired, evidently recovering from a severe illness, who invariably occupied a wheel-chair, the motive power for which was furnished by a most attractive young girl always clad in simple black. ”

“ I'm sorry, but I've made it a rule never to give any young girl her first engagement on the stage."
"But why?" gasped Martha.
"Because I don't approve of their going on the stage." [Pg 58]
"Yet you yourself have won success," argued Martha. "And you must have started some time."
Motioning Martha to bring a chair and sit beside her, Mrs. Dainton leaned forward impulsively and took her hands in her own.
"You don't know all that my success has cost me, my dear," she said simply. "Success is a wonderful thing, but the road to it is paved with temptations." ”

“ Why, it would be better to let the whole [Pg 180] thing be a total failure than to take such a risk."
"I am doing it because it pleases me," explained Clayton. "And because I want you to have every chance for success that they tried to rob you of."
"Just wish me luck?" asked Martha, softly, holding out her hand.
"I wish you everything you wish yourself," he replied.
"The curtain is up, Miss Farnum," cried Lizzie, entering for a moment from the stage. "It is nearly time for your entrance."
"Wish me success," pleaded Martha, again. ”

“ Flossie shook her head wonderingly. "Seems to me I'm getting the double cross."
"Well, if it isn't Mr. Lawrence," cried Mrs. Anderson, in the hallway, ushering in a distinguished-looking individual with [Pg 114] crisp, curly, dark hair, a smoothly shaven face, an elegant bearing and a far-away look in his flashing, dark eyes. "I'm so glad to welcome you home again—for you know I like to feel that all my guests are, after all, members of a happy little family." ”

“ A STAR FOR A NIGHT CHAPTER I "ZINSHEIMER, OF NEW YORK"
Stick a pin in the map of southern Indiana, half an inch to the left of Lost River, and about six hours from the rest of the world, as time is used to measure railroad journeys, and you will find a speck called French Lick Springs. Hidden away in the hills, so remote from the centers of civilization that only wealthy inebriates and chronic invalids can afford to visit this out of the way, yet expensive, spot, French Lick has other attractions than the natural beauties of its scenery and the health-giving quality of its waters. ”

“ Through the green-baize doors leading to the stage came the sounds of shifting scenery as the stage hands set the first act of "The Village Maid." A curtain was half drawn across the entrance to the adjoining [Pg 144] star's room, behind which the faithful Lizzie of the boarding-house, now transformed into a real maid for an actress, was busily engaged preparing the toilette articles and the costumes of Miss Martha Farnum, actress. ”

“ Another and more powerful reason for absenting himself from all neighborhoods where he might meet her, and especially from Mrs. Anderson's boarding-house, was the fear that she might consider him in the light of a benefactor to whom she was under obligations. This galled him—to think that she might be outwardly cordial while secretly bored. For Clayton was modest enough to believe that his unassuming airs and reticent ways would [Pg 125] not prove attractive to a high-spirited girl so many years his junior.
"What a surprise," cried Martha, entering the parlor suddenly. ”

“ Martha looked up at the lawyer hopefully. "Mr. Clayton," she said, "Mrs. Kilpatrick says you are from New York. [Pg 64] I've never been there. A few moments ago I said I wanted to go on the stage, and you laughed at me. Now, may I ask you seriously for your advice, and will you give me a serious answer?"
Clayton sat down by her side. "Fire away," he commanded.
"In the first place, I have firmly decided to go on the stage," explained Martha. "I have great ambition, I have been told that I read well, and I must make a living somehow. That settled, the only problem is the way to go at it. ”

“ I think I have had twenty fads in the last ten years."
"But your business—hasn't that suffered?" Martha smiled.
"Not a particle. I've had a glorious time, and my clients who knew of my fads thought all the more of me because they fancied I must be a brainy chap to have them." He laughed.
"It must be wonderful to do as one pleases," mused Martha, gazing out among the trees. ”

“ Anderson devoted her entire time to maintaining [Pg 72] an establishment which should be unique. Actors as a rule dread boarding-houses. There is something about such institutions which instinctively causes a chill of apprehension to run up and down their backs. Especially is this true of boarding-houses which advertise that they cater to the theatrical profession. But the instant image of cheapness, squalor, ill-kept rooms and badly cooked food, which is conjured up by the mere mention of "theatrical boarding-house," has no relation to Aunt Jane's. ”

“ You may have dazzled other girls before with your golden shower. You may have rung up curtains on success, and claimed your reckoning, but this time, even though you have brought me failure and humiliation, you may mark one failure for yourself. ”

“ When a chorus girl commences to receive hundred-dollar bills and diamonds, she can't stay in my house until I know who sends them, and why. That's all. That's why I telephoned you to come right over."
"I'm glad you 'phoned me, Aunt Jane," said Clayton. "I missed a pretty important business engagement at dinner to be [Pg 122] here, but I gathered from your message that something important had developed. I fancy Martha will tell us all about it. After all, it's no crime to admire Martha. I admire her myself. The change in her has been wonderful. ”

“ Zinsheimer patted her hand encouragingly. "Come over to the Casino," he [Pg 54] whispered. "We'll try our luck at the wheel." And with Flossie clinging to his right arm and Pinkie to his left, the genial feather importer started toward the Casino. At the head of the stairway the trio almost collided with Mrs. Dainton's footman, who was carrying the Pomeranian. Close behind came Mrs. Dainton herself, her maids, and her manager. Zinsheimer whispered to the girls quickly.
"That's the English actress," he said quietly. "I once knew her, but we don't speak now as we pass by. ”

“ Anderson, with that ever-present doubt that one always has in dunning delinquents, "but neither of you young ladies has been trying to get a position."
"Not trying, indeed," repeated Pinkie. "We go to the managers' offices every day, but the horrid brutes will not see us."
"But look at Miss Farnum," said Aunt Jane. "She came here without experience, and secured an engagement instantly."
"Yes, in the chorus," sneered Flossie. "Fancy us in the chorus," rising and glancing admiringly at her well-rounded figure. "I want lines."
"But Martha didn't mind the chorus," cried Mrs. Anderson, warmly. ”

“ Mrs. Dainton kissed the girl affectionately.
"You are young, and like all young people, you flatter yourself that you will be the exception," she said. "Good-bye, my dear. I dare say all my advice will be wasted, for if it is in the blood, if you have the call of the footlights in your soul and the fire of ambition in your heart, nothing can stop you in your career; neither the advice of an old woman nor the experience of others. Good-bye, my dear. Au revoir."
[Pg 63]
CHAPTER V STRICTLY A BUSINESS BARGAIN
Clayton found Martha in a corner of the veranda ten minutes later, in a brown study. ”