dinner, take all the
boxes, and make a joke of it."

"Isabelle may make a joke of us," commented her mother.

"She gets away with things," Wally encouraged her.

As for Isabelle, she was bored to the point of despair with her career.
Day in, day out, she said her stupid lines. If she varied one inflection
from yesterday's inflection she was reprimanded by Jenkins. Mary and her
lines were as standardized as Webster's Dictionary, and no original
turns were to be permitted. Cartel continued distant, every inch a star,
wrapped in his greatness. The other members of the company paid scant
attention to her, so she made no friends.

It was all very dull and mechanical. The play started off and ground
itself through as automatically as a machine. Jenkins ruled like the
boss of the shop. There was no room for genius.

Just to help herself endure the tedium of eternal rehearsal, Isabelle
invented an absorbing game. She rewrote the play, in innumerable ways,
with the plot revolving around Mary as the central figure. Mary was now
the friend and adviser of Mrs. Horton, now the trusted confidante of Mr.
Horton. But whichever she was, she was a noble, sublimated creature--no
possible relation to Mary, the automatic servant. She had long,
beautiful speeches, interesting and unusual stage business; she wore a
striking maid's costume, designed by Isabelle. This Mary managed to keep
Isabelle's imagination awake during the weary weeks in which the other
Mary walked on and off, with her "Yes, Mrs. Horton," and her "No, Mr.
Horton."

Suddenly a Sunday Supplement blossomed out with a full-page drawing of
Isabelle, and the announcement of her coming debut on the stage, in Sidney
Cartel's new production to open on such-and-such a date. Thereafter every
paper in town blared forth the news of this event. There were full columns
of talk about the Bryces, their money, their position, Mrs. Bryce's
beauty, Isabelle's eccentricities. The originality and daring of their
only child were dwelt upon at great length.

The performance with Cartel at the mountain inn was described. The
hungry public was told how Cartel had seen her genius at a glance and
persuaded her parents to let him have the training of her talent.
Isabelle was snapshotted leaving the theatre, or riding in the Park. She
was not safe a moment from reporters and camera men.

There was unanimous disapproval of this state of affairs on the part of
her parents and her manager. It was