Hulbert Footner

“ I cried, astonished. “You still doubt that?”
“No,” said Mme. Storey, smiling at the heat I betrayed. “I'm sure he didn't.”
“But obviously that man Krueger was ready to swear to anything that would please him!”
“Obviously,” she agreed.
“And the story about the telephone call! Fancy anybody calling him up and saying: “Your wife has been shot!' Just like that. Why, it's preposterous!”
“Quite!” said Mme. Storey. “Whittall is far too clever a man to have offered me so preposterous a story if it were not true. There is nothing so preposterous as the truth sometimes.” ”

“ You can go ahead and be damned to you.”
This was too much for Crider. “I'll trouble you to be civil to Mme. Storey,” he said, flushing.
My mistress silenced him with a gesture. To Whittall she said coolly: “I am not prepared to proceed against you yet. As to the future, I make no promises. Are you willing on your part to give me your word of honor that you will not marry until this matter is cleared up?”
“Certainly!” he said quickly. “Word of honor. But don't tell Fay yet. It would break her heart.”
“I have no intention of doing so, yet,” said Mme. Storey dryly. ”

“ The Adelphi was one of the newer theaters in that neighborhood. Its name has been changed now. At this time Whittall was reputed to be the owner, but I do not know if this was so. It was perfectly clear, though, that Max Krueger was Whittall's creature, “Wild Hyacinth,” I should say, was not showing at the Adelphi, but at the Yorktown, farther down Broadway, which was much larger and had a greater seating capacity.
A deceitful air of activity pervaded the offices. Apart from rehearsals, theatrical business seems to consist of lengthy conversations which end exactly where they begin. ”