a prominent
member of its cast could lose himself.

He had told the Pattersons a little about the story. It was pretty
pathetic in spots, he said, but it all came right in the end, and there
were some good Western scenes. When the Pattersons said he must be very
good in it, he found himself unable to achieve the light fashion of
denial and protestation that would have become him. He said he had
struggled to give the world something better and finer. For a moment
he was moved to confess that Mrs. Patterson, in the course of his
struggles, had come close to losing ten dollars, but he mastered the
wild impulse. Some day, after a few more triumphs, he might laughingly
confide this to her.

The day was long. Slothfully it dragged hours that seemed endless across
the company of shining dreams that he captained. He was early at the
theatre, first of early comers, and entered quickly, foregoing even a
look at the huge lithographs in front that would perhaps show his very
self in some gripping scene.

With an empty auditorium to choose from, he compromised on a balcony
seat. Down below would doubtless be other members of the company,
probably Baird himself, and he did not wish to be recognized. He must be
alone with his triumph. And the loftier gallery would be too far away.

The house filled slowly. People sauntered to their seats as if the
occasion were ordinary; even when the seats were occupied and the
orchestra had played, there ensued the annoying delays of an educational
film and a travelogue. Upon this young actor's memory would be forever
seared the information that the conger eel lays fifteen million eggs
at one time and that the inhabitants of Upper Burmah have quaint native
pastimes. These things would stay with him, but they were unimportant.
Even the prodigal fecundity of the conger eel left him cold.

He gripped the arms of his seat when the cast of Hearts on Fire was
flung to the screen. He caught his own name instantly, and was puzzled.
"Clifford Armytage--By Himself." Someone had bungled that, but no
matter. Then at once he was seeing that first scene of his. As a popular
screen idol he breakfasted in his apartment, served by a valet who was a
hero worshipper.

He was momentarily disquieted by the frank adoration of the cross-eyed
man in this part. While acting the scene, he remembered now that he had
not always been able to observe his valet. There were moments when he
seemed over-emphatic. The valet wa