egraphed: 'Must have a thousand, or can't move.' He just answered:
'Don't move.' We didn't."

"But that was business."

"Bad business," he nodded. "It took a year for some of them folks to
get back to Broadway. Some of the girls never did, and I guess never
will."

"Maybe they're better off, Jim."

"Couldn't be worse. They're still in Texas. Wish I knew how to do
something else--being a plumber or a walking delegate--they always have
jobs."

"I wish I could do something else, too, but I can't. We've got to make
the best of it."

Weston rose and took his hat.

"I guess so. Well, I'll see you this evening. I hope you'll have good
news by that time." He started to open the door, and then came back a
step, and in a voice meant to be kindly, he said: "If you'd like to go
to the theatre to-night, and take some other woman in the house, maybe
I can get a couple of tickets for one of the shows. I know a lot of
fellows who are working."

The girl smiled sadly; tears filled her eyes.

"No, thanks, Jim; I haven't anything to wear to the theatre, and I
don't----"

He understood. His face broadened into a sympathetic smile, and,
putting his arm affectionately round her waist, as a father might with
his daughter, he said kindly:

"Now, you just cheer up! Something's sure to turn up. It always has for
me, and I'm a lot older than you, both in years and in this business.
There's always a break in hard luck some time----"

Laura dried her eyes, and tried to force a smile.

"I hope so," she said. "But things are looking pretty hopeless now,
aren't they?"

"Never mind," he said, as he went toward the door. "I'll go and give
Mrs. F. a line o' talk and try to square you for a couple of days more,
anyway. But I guess she's laying pretty close to the cushion herself,
poor woman."

"Annie says a lot of people owe her."

"Well, you can't pay what you haven't got. And even if money was
growing on trees, it's winter now. I'm off. Maybe to-day is lucky day.
So long!"

"Good-by," smiled Laura.

"Keep your nerve," he said, as he closed the door behind him.

CHAPTER XII.

"Keep your nerve!"

The words rang mockingly in the girl's ear long after the good-natured
advance agent had made his departure. Keep her nerve? That was
precisely what she was trying to do, and it was proving almost beyond
her strength. Why had John left her to make this fight alone? He must
have known, even better than she, herself, what a te