little--not too much. Play it as a spiritual character, but
not solemn. Wouldn't make it turgid; keep it light. Have the whole
play spiritual but light. For instance, have room in it for a religious
ingenue part--make her a younger sister of Mary Magdalene, say, with St.
Paul becoming converted for her sake after he'd been a Roman General. I
believe it's a big idea."

Canby was growing nervous. All this seemed to be rambling farther and
farther from "Roderick Hanscom." Potter relieved his anxiety, however,
after a thoughtful sigh, by saying abruptly: "Well, well, we can't go
into a big production like that, this late in the year. We'll have to
see what can be done with 'Roderick Hanscom.'" He looked at the door,
where the Japanese was performing a shrinking curtsey. "What is it,
Sato?"

"Miss Pata."

"Who?"

"Miss Pata."

A voice called from the hallway: "It's me, Mr. Potter. Packer."

"Oh, come in! Come in!"

The stage-manager made a deferential entrance. "It's about Miss--"

"Sit down, Packer."

"Thank you, Mr. Potter." Evidently considering the command a favour,
Packer sat. "I saw Miss Lyston, sir--"

"I won't turn her adrift," said his employer peevishly. "You see, Mr.
Canby, here's another of the difficulties of my position. Miss Lyston
has been with me for several years, and for this piece we've got
somebody I think will play her part better, but I haven't any other part
for Miss Lyston. And we start so late in the season, this year, she'll
probably not be able to get anything else to do; so she's on my hands.
I can't turn people out in the snow like that. Some managers can, but
I can't. And yet I have letters begging me for all kinds of charities
every day. They don't know what my company costs me in money like
this--absolutely thrown away so far as any benefit to me is concerned.
And often I find I've been taken advantage of, too. I shouldn't be at
all surprised to find that Miss Lyston has comfortable investments right
now, and that she's only scheming to--Packer, don't you know whether
she's been saving her salary or not? If you don't you ought to."

"I came to tell you, sir. I thought you might be relieved to know. We
don't have to bother about her, Mr. Potter. I've been to see her at
her flat, this evening, and she's as anxious to get away from us, Mr.
Potter, as we are to--"

The star rose to his feet, his face suffusing. "You sit there,"
he exclaimed, "and tell me that a member of my com