Evarne smoothed out that most interesting document--the script of her first dramatic _rôle_--and studied it eagerly. She supposed "Caledonia's Bard" was Robert Burns, for references to "Bobbie" were frequent. She could not glean much idea of the plot from her part, nor did the words she was to utter appear likely to call forth any great histrionic talent that might be lying unsuspected within her breast. As far as she could gather, all the scenes of the play took place by the deathbed of "Highland Mary." She read out a speech to Mrs. Burling as a specimen. "Now lie ye still, bonnie Mary, lie ye still. Sure, Bobbie will greet sair to see ye laid sae low. For his sake, Mary, ye must get the roses back agin into your bonnie cheeks, now sae white, Mary. Oh, doctor, is she no a wee bit better, think ye?" Thus it went on. "Bonnie Mary" was obviously a most obstreperous patient, and it evidently called forth all "Bess's" powers of persuasion to make her die quietly in bed. "Mary" apparently took to seeing visions as the play waxed more thrilling, and "Bess" was required to employ "gentle strength" to persuade her charge to obey the injunction, repeated with wearying reiteration, "Rest ye calm, Mary; rest ye calm." Indeed, the idea did flash across Evarne that she might almost as well have undertaken to tend lunatics in the privacy of an infirmary, as she was seemingly to do much the same sort of thing on the boards and under the public gaze. "It's not very inspiring, is it?" she said rather despondently, but at the same time she was relieved to find that no serious demands were to be made upon her--as yet untried--dramatic abilities. She went out to buy the brown serge and the blue cotton material necessary for her two costumes, and on her return was told that during her absence a gentleman from Scotland had called and gone. "It must be my ticket," exclaimed the girl. "Didn't he leave it?" Mrs. Burling handed her an envelope. In it Evarne found the return-half of a third-class ticket from Glasgow to London. "Dear me, we are going to break the regulations of the railway company, I see," was her first thought. However, the arrival of the ticket seemed to make the engagement real--a settled fact. She was now fully in the throes of an actress's life. As she sat studying her part and stitching away at her stage costumes, she recalled the early days of Mrs. Siddons and various other great theatrical stars, and tried hard to feel resigned concerning the past and the present, and hopeful for the future. She determined to force herself to become ambitious. She would live for and think only of professional success, and dream no more of Morris.