in the past."

Martha rose to her feet, and held out her hand in sympathy.

"I am so sorry, Mrs. Dainton," she said simply.

"Sorry, my dear child?" repeated Mrs. Dainton, cheerfully. "Why need you
be? That was what happened to a friend of mine, and that's why I will
not help you or any one else to go on the stage."

"But surely," cried Martha, desperately, "some people succeed without
pain and unhappiness?"

Mrs. Dainton kissed the girl affectionately.

"You are young, and like all young people, you flatter yourself that you
will be the exception," she said. "Good-bye, my dear. I dare say all my
advice will be wasted, for if it is in the blood, if you have the call
of the footlights in your soul and the fire of ambition in your heart,
nothing can stop you in your career; neither the advice of an old woman
nor the experience of others. Good-bye, my dear. Au revoir."

CHAPTER V

STRICTLY A BUSINESS BARGAIN

Clayton found Martha in a corner of the veranda ten minutes later, in a
brown study.

"Here, this will never do," he began cheerfully. "Is it as bad as that?"

Martha looked up with an attempt at cheerfulness.

"It is of no consequence," she said simply. "You wouldn't understand."

"Am I so dense as all that?" he protested. "Any one with half an eye
could see that you are in trouble, and I'd like to help if I can be of
any assistance."

Martha looked up at the lawyer hopefully. "Mr. Clayton," she said, "Mrs.
Kilpatrick says you are from New York. I've never been there. A few
moments ago I said I wanted to go on the stage, and you laughed at me.
Now, may I ask you seriously for your advice, and will you give me a
serious answer?"

Clayton sat down by her side. "Fire away," he commanded.

"In the first place, I have firmly decided to go on the stage,"
explained Martha. "I have great ambition, I have been told that I read
well, and I must make a living somehow. That settled, the only problem
is the way to go at it. Will you advise me?"

"But you are not cut out for that sort of life," protested Clayton.
"You--you should marry--you'll find more real happiness there."

"Have you done that?" inquired Martha.

"That's different. I'm a man."

"Oh, yes, and being one, you think we women can't get along without
you."

"No one can live happily without love."

"If you have success, you don't need love," insisted Martha.

"My dear child," Clayton tried to explain, "the greatest success means