returned them sooner, but I didn't know who
the mysterious donor was."

"Please keep the money, Miss Farnum, and the other things. They mean
nothing to me, and think of the comfort and pleasure they can bring
you."

"I have no right to accept anything from you."

"Then take the money for some one else. There must be some pet charity,
some deserving chorus girl who has a sick mother, some fresh-air fund
you want to contribute to. Please don't ask me to take back things so
freely given."

"No, I cannot take it," replied Martha, firmly.

Gordon twirled his moustache nervously and peered curiously at her. Here
was a case, indeed, one which the fastidious Sanford had never
previously encountered. A chorus girl to refuse money and presents?
Unprecedented! How the chaps at the club would chaff him if he ever told
the story. He--the best-known boulevardier of Broadway, a welcome guest
at every Bohemian gathering, who called actors and managers by their
first names and was the most flattered and most sought after member of
that queer white-light society of night revellers which regarded the
setting of the sun as the dawning of a new day--he, Sanford Gordon,
virtually flouted by an obscure chorus girl whom he had deigned to honor
with his attentions? Why, the thing was unbelievable.

"Are you in earnest?" he demanded.

"Certainly," replied Martha, rising. "I cannot be under obligations to
you or any one else, especially in money matters."

"Listen, Miss Farnum," cried Gordon, coming to her. "My conduct may seem
strange to you. Call it a whim, if you like. But since I saw you that
first night at the Casino, I have wanted to be friends with you. Can't
we be friends?"

"Friends? Why, of course," replied Martha, sincerely.

"You want to succeed in your profession. Let me help you."

"What could you do?"

"I know the manager pretty well, for one thing. Victor Weldon is going
to make a few new productions this season, and if I asked him to give
you a part, he would probably do it."

"But I want to succeed on my merits," insisted Martha. "If I am to win
success, I must deserve it. I should be ashamed and humiliated if I
secured an engagement through influence, and then failed."

"But why refuse influence?" protested Gordon. "It gives you the
opportunity, and that is something every one must have. Many a clever
actor and actress is walking Broadway to-day without an engagement,
simply because of lack of opportunity. No