“‘Mr. Trayne, I know you thought me very peculiar at the theatre. But I was afraid that if I told you what I really wanted you’d have refused to come. You get hundreds and hundreds of people coming to see you who think they can act. Asking you to help them get a job and that sort of thing. Well, I was afraid that if I told you that that was what I wanted, you’d have told me to go away. Perhaps you’d have given me a straw of comfort—taken my address—said you’d let me know if anything turned up. But nothing would have turned up. . . . And, you see, I was rather desperate.’ “The big brown eyes were fixed on me pleadingly, and somehow I didn’t feel quite as annoyed as I should have done at what was nothing more nor less than a blatant trick to appeal to my sympathy. “‘Perhaps nothing would have turned up,’ I said gently, ‘but you must remember that to-day the stage is a hopelessly overstocked profession. There are hundreds of trained actors and actresses unable to obtain a job.’ “‘I know that,’ she cried eagerly, ‘and that’s why I—why I thought out this plan. I thought that if I could _really_ convince you that I could act above the average . . .’ “‘And she can, Mr. Trayne,’ broke in her husband. ‘She’s good, I know it.’ “‘We must leave Mr. Trayne to be the judge of that, Harry,’ she smiled. ‘You see,’ she went on to me, ‘what I felt was that there is an opening for real talent. There is, isn’t there?’ “‘Yes,’ I agreed slowly. ‘There is an opening for _real_ talent. But even that is a small one. . . . Have you ever acted before?’ “‘A little. In amateur theatricals!’ “I turned away. Amateur theatricals! More heart-burning and disappointment has been caused by those abominable entertainments than their misguided originators will ever realise. “‘But don’t think I’m relying on that.’ The girl was speaking again, and I almost laughed. ‘I want you to judge me to-night.’ “I swung round and looked at her. So this was the mysterious plan: I was to witness an impromptu performance, which was to convince me that the second Sarah Bernhardt had been discovered. “‘I couldn’t have shown you, you see, in your dressing-room. I shouldn’t have had time. That’s why I asked you to come here.’ “‘You have the courage of your convictions anyway,’ I said quietly. ‘I am perfectly ready to be convinced.’ “‘Then will you sit there.’ She took off her hat and coat as I sat down on the only available chair, and from underneath his pillow the man produced a paper-covered book. “‘You’ll forgive me if I read my lines, Mr. Trayne,’ he said. ‘I find I can’t learn them—I can’t concentrate.’ He passed a thin, emaciated hand over his forehead. ‘And it’s her you want to see.’