Her Faithful Knight — page 129: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Her First Rehearsal. 125 ting herself go.” But as carefully recited by a beautiful novice, Zara Carewe was comical where she was not tedi- ous, and no attempt was made by the other players in “Love’s Right” to conceal their opinion of the leading lady’s performance. “T wonder old Marmalade puts up with her,” Devine de- clared. “If I were stage manager I’d order her off the boards. It’s an insult to experienced artists to ask them to support such an exhibition.”’ “Oh, she’s mashed old Marmalade,” returned his wife snappishly. ‘“That’s why he lets her off so easy. Dick has met them out walking together twice lately. I can’t think why she should take up with the silly old man, un- less it’s a try-on to make the manager jealous.” “She’s a deep one, that’s my opinion,” said her husband. “She knows as well as we do that Mr. Darcy is the Hon. Darcy Derrick, with only an invalid brother between him and the title, and that he came into a pile of money when his father died. It’s my belief, for all her Puritanical airs, that Miss Dorothy Knight’s come to this tour simply and solely to hook him.” } Mr. and Mrs. Stourton-Chepe were of the same opinion, for which reason the latter frequently invited Miss Knight to tea, and entertained her by lamentations on the poorness and meanness of the rooms in which hard fate compelled her temporarily to reside. ‘These terribie antimacassars, and wax flowers, and horsehair sofas set one’s teeth on edge,” she complained. “T must really apologize for inviting any one to see me in such a place.” “Tt is quite a palace, in point of size, at least, to what I am used to at home,’ Dorothy remarked simply, her frank nature resenting all attempt at pretension. “I live in a cottage, and, therefore, cottage lodgings seem perfectly natural to me.” EOmicdoo “S (S(0)