“Oh, I don’t like you, Mr. Merriwell!” she cried. “I didn’t think you, an actor, would talk like that! That is the way papa talks.” “Your father is right. Listen to him. I believe you said in your note that your mother is dead?” “Yes.” “That is most unfortunate. Just now you need a mother to look out for you. But you have a home. If you were to become an actress, it is probable you would not have a home. Six months in the year, perhaps, or even more, you might be searching for an engagement, living as best you could during that time, uncertain as to the future. You would be the prey of sharks and sharpers, you would be bullied and cheated, you might get out with a company and be left stranded and penniless a thousand miles from anywhere. Your sensitive nature would revolt against mankind and the world. All your finer nature would be ruined. Then you would do one of two things. You would end it all by taking your own life, or you would turn about and prey upon men, sinking lower and lower, traveling the road to destruction.” The girl shuddered and cried out: “Oh!” she gasped. “I can’t believe anything so horrible would happen to me!” “It has happened to thousands before you.” “But I—I thought——” “That all actresses were happy and prosperous—that they lived lives of ease and pleasure.” “Yes, it seemed that way.” “And I dare say you thought it an easy thing to become an actress?” “It seemed so,” she repeated. “Did you ever stop to think if you had any special qualification for becoming an actress?” “Well, I thought I was rather—rather——” “Pretty?” “Yes,” she admitted, in great confusion. “And did you think that the only requirement for becoming an actress?” “No, of course not, but——” “The girl who can act, who has real dramatic ability, is fortunate if she is pretty. That is absolutely true. It requires great talent for a homely girl to win success on the stage. At the same time, a girl who is merely pretty has almost absolutely no show unless she has dramatic ability to some extent, or can sing in a manner to command attention. Are you a fine singer?” “I can sing a little.” “A little will not do. Keep off the stage, Miss Dow. Avoid actors. Do not flirt with them. You know nothing about them. They may be honorable men, and they may not be. The chances are that they are not. They are here to-day and gone to-morrow. They live lives which tend to rob them of their fine sense of honor.” The girl was silent some moments, as they walked along. At last she said: “Mr. Merriwell, I believe you have told me the truth. I have refused to believe others who have told me things about the stage and actors, but you are an actor, and you know what you are talking about. I realize now that I was very foolish to-night. Oh, I’ll get a scolding from papa, for he told me I could not go to the theater, and I ran away to go, just to see you.” She seemed on the verge of tears.