"Can't," he declared; "never could! Never know where I'm staying myself if I don't make a note of it as soon as I go in. In Jarrow, one Monday, I had to wander all over the place for three' mortal hours in the pouring rain, looking for someone in the company to tell me where I lived. Hallo! where's Carew?" "He'll be in directly," she said. "Sit down." "Oh! I'm awfully sorry to have come so early," he exclaimed; "why, you haven't fed or anything." He was a bright-faced boy, with a cheery flow of chatter, and she was glad he had appeared. "I expect the Bowmans any minute," she assured him; "you aren't early. Do sit down, there's a good child, and don't stand fiddling your hat about; put it on the piano! Have you banqueted yourself?" "To repletion. What did you think of Carew's notice in the Great Sixpennyworth on Saturday? Wasn't it swagger? 'The rôle finds an ideal exponent in Mr. Seaton Carew, an actor who is rapidly making his way into the foremost ranks of his profession'!" "A line and a half," she said, "by a provincial correspondent! I shan't be satisfied till----well!" "I know--till you see him with sixteen lines all to himself in the _Telegraph_! No more will he, I fancy. He's red-hot on success, is Carew--do anything for it. So'm I; I should like to play Claude." "Claude?" she exclaimed. "Why, you're funny!" "Not by disposition," he declared. "Miss Westland is responsible for my being funny. When they said 'a small comedy-part is still vacant,' I said small comedy-parts are my forte of fortes! Had it been an 'old man' that was wanted, I should have professed myself born to dodder. But if it comes to choice--to the secret tendency of the sacred fire--I am lead, I am romantic, I have centre-entrances in the limelight. Look here: 'A deep vale, shut out by Alpine----' No, wait a minute; you do the Langtry business and let the flowers fall, while I 'paint the home.' Do you know, my private opinion is that Claude only took those lessons so that the widow shouldn't be put to any expense doing up the home. Haven't got any flowers? Anything else then--where are the cards?" He found the pack on the sideboard, and pushed a few into her hand. "These'll do for the flowers," he said; "finger 'em lovingly; think you're holding a good nap." "Don't be so ridiculous!" "I'm not," said Dolliver, with dignity; "I really want to hear your views on my reading. Where was I--er--er---- "'Near a clear lake margin'd by fruits of gold And whispering myrtles; glassing softest skies As cloudless, save with rare and roseate shadows.... As I would have thy fate.' "You see I make a pause after 'shadows'--I'm natural. I gaze hesitatingly at the floats, and the borders, and a kid in the pit. Then I meet the eyes of the fair Pauline, and conclude with 'As I would have thy fate,' smiling dreamily at the excellence of the comparison. That's a new point, I take it?"