Leonard Merrick

“ The nice girl read the lines he had invented thirteen years before—and listening to her, he remembered.
Rain was falling when the rehearsal finished. She hadn't an umbrella. "Which way do you go?" he asked as the stage-door slammed.
"All Saints," she replied; "Rumford Street."
"That's my way, too. I want a cab—I can give you a lift."
"A cab?" She was openly astonished. "If you must squander money, you can take a penny car. But why not walk?"
"Is that what you do in the wet?"
"Well, if I took a cab every time it was wet in Manchester, my salary wouldn't go far, would it?" ”

“ You're not seeing my best clothes here, don't think it—I'm in an engagement, I'm stopping the expenses!"
"Peggy!" groaned the other girl again. He divined a kick under the table. "You're coming down to see the dress rehearsal on the 5th, Mr. Lawless?" she struck in.
"It would be a treat to me, but I can't; I've somewhere else to go."
"It would be a 'treat' to him!" pealed Peggy. "We shall be kept in the theatre half the night—we shall be dog-tired—and he would find it a 'treat'! What it is to be young! Where have you to go, Mr. Dramatist?" ”

“ Robert Blackstone's the man who wears the wig and gown, and can make things right for your mother and the youngsters, and who'll give you a title by-and-by, my love; but your husband'll be the bohemian who toasted the crumpets, and lodged at mademoiselle Superba's, the terpsichorean gymnast. You shan't have time to wish for anything—I'd like to buy the Earth for you!—and you must come to hear me speak, and I want you to be proud of our position; but at home I shall always be the 'boy' who fell in love with you, Peggy, the 'Bob Lawless' who went to look for his youth—and found it! ”

“ She shrugged her shoulders. "At the beginning I was in love with it; I've been in the profession eight years now. You're giving me all your unbrella."
"There's no expense attached to that," said Robert.
The cars were full, and she was evidently averse from a cab; so they went along Oxford Street afoot, keeping close together.
"I suppose you'll go and see a show to-night?" she inquired.
"I hadn't thought of it," he said. "Shall you?"
"There's nothing else to do when one isn't playing. It's ghastly sitting in diggings all the evening, isn't it?" ”

“ Viscounts occasionally married dancing-girls, but socially that was as high as the theatre had climbed. It may be difficult for English people of to-day to credit it, but though old Mr. Blackstone was simply a solicitor, he felt humiliated when his son "took to play-acting." What will be understood more easily, is that he was wrathful in thinking of the money he had wasted to make a barrister of a crank. He told the crank that he washed his hands of him, and as a matter of fact talked rather like the irate parents in the comedies in which Bob was going to perform. ”

“ On the see-saw of life Mr. Pink had gone down while Mr. Blackstone went up.
For the third time he read the letter. He knew that "T.R." stood for "Theatre Royal," but the other abbreviations had mystified him. It recurred to him with emotion that "O.H." meant "Opera House," and that "P.O.W." meant "Prince of Wales's." That he could have forgotten these things even for a moment! He drummed his fingers on the briefs, and saw his Youth.
Of course he could have nothing to do with the matter. "No Flies on Flossie—the work, we understand, of Mr. Robert Blackstone, the well-known barrister," etc. ”

“ When the prodigal has once returned to the odour of sanctity we are quite sure that he will never desire change of air; we understand that he will always be just as good and peaceful as we leave him on the last page. ”

“ In any other business three pounds a week wants a lot of earning."
"Oh, I know," she said. "I've got young brothers in the city. They call me 'the millionaire of the family.’"
"Do they like your being on tour alone?"
"Well, you see, it was necessary for me to earn my own living; things weren't very bright at home when I grew up. I don't spend all my salary on the delicacies of the season—I send half to my mother every week. ”

“ Pink," responded Robert.
They sat down in the stalls swathed in holland wrappers, and the mist before him melted. The ill-dressed people acquired features; he realised that the rehearsal had begun, and that the figures on the stage were the butler and the maid-servant reading the opening scene of his farce. ”

“ Robert toasted crumpets also. They all knelt on the hearthrug and toasted crumpets together. His hostesses cried that they were "rising in their profession, having the author to tea!" He laughed. He cracked a joke. He wondered what Edward would say if he could see him.
At the St. James's the girls obtained two stalls for nothing, and Robert insisted on paying for one, though Miss Wilson reproved him for such waste of money. "We could quite easily have asked for three," she said. "It is silly of you! You make me angry."
Greatly daring, he proposed supper when the performance was over. ”

“ Her hands weren't pretty, but he revered them now he knew the reason.
"Peggy!" said the other girl, dismayed. The other girl was obsessed by "manners" when she was out.
"I'm frightfully untidy in the morning. In novels the poor heroine always has on 'snowy cuffs and collars' with her rags. Pickles! In real life the poor heroine has to think of the laundry bills. Oh, you'd be shocked at me in the morning! After the boys have gone, I turn a room out sometimes—my skirt pinned up, and a duster over my head. Can you see me? Mother's not very strong—the cooking's business enough for mother. ”

“ The restaurants of Manchester were far to seek, but he didn't know that; he even told himself that it mattered nothing if he were recognised; the girls were ladies, a man had a right to take his friends to supper! However, they wouldn't go; that is to say, Miss Wilson wouldn't go; the other girl looked as if she wanted to. Miss Wilson said he must wait to see if his piece was a success. "If it makes a hit, well—perhaps!" ”

“ When he had unpacked his bag, he smoked a cigar in the parlour, and smiled. "One always returns to one's first love," he mused; and really the first love looked attractive, though he viewed the signboard of a "mechanical chimney-sweep" through the window.
Presently he asked his landlady for her card,
"I'll have to give you my professional card," she said, "but it has got the address on it; I'm in the profession myself."
He read, "Mdlle. Superba: Terpsichorean Gymnast." ”

“ It dwelt on scenes in the farce that had appeared to him brilliant when he wrote them. Would they appear brilliant to-day? He remembered the evening when he scribbled "Curtain," and Dick turned up and heard the last act read. "Jove! ”