“We parted with ‘Chuck’ about three in the morning. He escorted us to the same old car, which was piloted by the same old chauffeur. As we were leaving he blew me a kiss! ‘Hully gee!’ he said, ‘I likes youse; an’ don’ yer ferget to tell de little skoit dat she’s der _real t’ing_!’ We were about to start when he gave a yell that frightened us and said he had forgotten something. He pulled the enclosed book from his pocket and, using the chauffeur’s back as a desk, wrote the inscription on the fly-leaf!... “The last act will soon be in final shape. Study hard, but don’t over-do,--and everything will be all right. Good-night and good luck. “Faithfully, “DAVID BELASCO.” AN ADMONITION TO STAGE ASPIRANTS. (_Belasco to a Recalcitrant Novice_.) Another letter which Belasco wrote at about the same period as that above quoted is characteristic and informative as to his views concerning the Stage and stage aspirants and can conveniently be placed here: “The Belasco Theatre. My dear Mrs. H.------:-- “It is not an easy task to write what I have to say, but it is time that it should be written and understood. If I am to do for your cousin, Miss V------, what I want to do and have hoped to do; if I am to open the way for her to a career, she must be guided by me; _my_ influence, not yours nor that of anybody else, must predominate. The Stage is a harsh master. Real success on it does not ‘happen’: it is _made_--made of striving and sacrifice and self-denial and _hard work_. “What you do is, of course, no concern of mine and I have no wish to meddle in anybody else’s business, having far more of my own than I can properly look after. But I have every reason to think that, if it were not for your influence, I might not have so many causes to be dissatisfied with Miss V------. At present, my wishes are not heeded by her. And so that we may all reach an understanding, I want to say to you that I resent Miss V------‘s recent conduct; that, in view of the fact that I have taken the trouble to interest myself in her future as an actress, I resent it _very much_, and will not any longer tolerate it. “If I am in some ways a strict master I am always a fair and considerate one. But,--and please realize this,--in everything connected with my theatre, from the waterboys in the smoking room to the ‘star’ on the stage; from the carpets to be laid on the floors to the plays that are produced, _I am the Master, and my word is the absolute and final law_.