The Adventures of SallyWodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
General
The Adventures of Sally
Wodehouse, P. G. (Pelham Grenville)
Humorous stories; Inheritance and succession -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction
When Sally left Detroit on the following Saturday, accompanied by
Fillmore, who was returning to the metropolis for a few days in order to
secure offices and generally make his presence felt along Broadway, her
spirits had completely recovered. She felt guiltily that she had been
fanciful, even morbid. Naturally men wanted to get on in the world.
It was their job. She told herself that she was bound up with Gerald's
success, and that the last thing of which she ought to complain was the
energy he put into efforts of which she as well as he would reap the
reward.
To this happier frame of mind the excitement of the last few days had
contributed. Detroit, that city of amiable audiences, had liked “The
Primrose Way.” The theatre, in fulfilment of Teddy's prophecy, had
been allowed to open on the Tuesday, and a full house, hungry for
entertainment after its enforced abstinence, had welcomed the play
wholeheartedly. The papers, not always in agreement with the applause of
a first-night audience, had on this occasion endorsed the verdict, with
agreeable unanimity hailing Gerald as the coming author and Elsa Doland
as the coming star. There had even been a brief mention of Fillmore as
the coming manager. But there is always some trifle that jars in our
greatest moments, and Fillmore's triumph had been almost spoilt by the
fact that the only notice taken of Gladys Winch was by the critic who
printed her name--spelt Wunch--in the list of those whom the cast “also
included.”
“One of the greatest character actresses on the stage,” said Fillmore
bitterly, talking over this outrage with Sally on the morning after the
production.
From this blow, however, his buoyant nature had soon enabled him to
rally. Life contained so much that was bright that it would have been
churlish to concentrate the attention on the one dark spot. Business had
been excellent all through the week. Elsa Doland had got better at
every performance. The receipt of a long and agitated telegram from Mr.
Cracknell, pleading to be allowed to buy the piece back, the passage of
time having apparently softened Miss Hobson, was a pleasant incident.
And, best of all, the great Ike Schumann, who owned half the theatres
in New York and had been in Detroit superintending one of his musical
productions, had looked in one evening and stamped “The Primrose Way”
with the seal of his approval. As Fillmore sat opposite Sally on the
train, he radiated contentment and importance.
“Yes, do,” said Sally, breaking a long silence.
Fillmore awoke from happy dreams.
“Eh?”
“I said 'Yes, do.' I think you owe it to your position.”
“Do what?”
“Buy a fur coat. Wasn't that what you were meditating about?”
“Don't be a chump,” said Fillmore, blushing nevertheless. It was true
that once or twice during the past week he had toyed negligently, as
Mr. Bunbury would have said, with the notion, and why not? A fellow must
keep warm.
“With an astrakhan collar,” insisted Sally.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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