"You see, Joe," she said sadly, "we 've took a flat since we moved from Mis' Jones', and we had to furnish it. We 've got one lodger, a race-horse man, an' he 's mighty nice to ma an' me, but that ain't enough. Now we 've got to do something." Joe was so smitten with sorrow that he gave her a dollar and promised to speak about the matter to a friend of his. He did speak about it to Hattie. "You 've told me once or twice that your sister could sing. Bring her down here to me, and if she can do anything, I 'll get her a place on the stage," was Hattie's answer. When Kitty heard it she was radiant, but her mother only shook her head and said, "De las' hope, de las' hope." XII "ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE" Kitty proved herself Joe's sister by falling desperately in love with Hattie Sterling the first time they met. The actress was very gracious to her, and called her "child" in a pretty, patronising way, and patted her on the cheek. "It 's a shame that Joe has n't brought you around before. We 've been good friends for quite some time." "He told me you an' him was right good friends." Already Joe took on a new importance in his sister's eyes. He must be quite a man, she thought, to be the friend of such a person as Miss Sterling. "So you think you want to go on the stage, do you?" "Yes, 'm, I thought it might be right nice for me if I could." "Joe, go out and get some beer for us, and then I 'll hear your sister sing." Miss Sterling talked as if she were a manager and had only to snap her fingers to be obeyed. When Joe came back with the beer, Kitty drank a glass. She did not like it, but she would not offend her hostess. After this she sang, and Miss Sterling applauded her generously, although the young girl's nervousness kept her from doing her best. The encouragement helped her, and she did better as she became more at home. "Why, child, you 've got a good voice. And, Joe, you 've been keeping her shut up all this time. You ought to be ashamed of yourself." The young man had little to say. He had brought Kitty almost under a protest, because he had no confidence in her ability and thought that his "girl" would disillusion her. It did not please him now to find his sister so fully under the limelight and himself "up stage." Kitty was quite in a flutter of delight; not so much with the idea of working as with the glamour of the work she might be allowed to do. "I tell you, now," Hattie Sterling pursued, throwing a brightly stockinged foot upon a chair, "your voice is too good for the chorus. Gi' me a cigarette, Joe. Have one, Kitty?--I 'm goin' to call you Kitty. It 's nice and homelike, and then we 've got to be great chums, you know." Kitty, unwilling to refuse anything from the sorceress, took her cigarette and lighted it, but a few puffs set her off coughing. "Tut, tut, Kitty, child, don't do it if you ain't used to it. You 'll learn soon enough."