ersion of Scott's novel, denuded of all dramatic
quality, was paraded before her.... In an interval, Charles asked her
what she thought of it.

'It is death,' she said. 'It is nothing but money.'

'Money,' repeated Charles. 'Money.... Whose money? ...' And he
suddenly felt again that splendid feeling of confidence. With his
_Tempest_ all the money in that place should sustain beauty, and every
ugly thing, every ugly thought should disappear. He touched Clara's
hair, and for the first time, somewhat to his alarm, realised that she
was something more than an amusing and delightful child, and that he
had married her.

He looked down from the box into the stalls, and wondered if behind the
white-shirt fronts and the bare bosoms there were also anxious thoughts
and uneasy emotions, and if everybody had troubles that lurked in the
past and might race ahead of them to meet them in the future.... Then
he laughed at himself. After all, whatever happened, his fame grew,
and he went on being Charles Mann.

IV

BEHIND THE SCENES

Miss Julia Wainwright might be sentimental, and she might be jealous,
but she was shrewd, and she understood intuitively the relationship
between Charles and Clara. At first she refused to believe that they
were married, as Charles was notoriously careless in these matters, but
when she was faced with the fact her warm heart warned her of tragedy
and she took it upon herself to inform Clara of the mysterious
difficulties of married life, especially for two sensitive people.

'Charles wants a stupid woman and you want a stupid man,' she said.

Clara, of course, refused to believe that, and said that with a stupid
woman Charles would just rot away in a studio and grow more and more
unintelligible.

'Never mind, then,' said Miss Wainwright. 'I'll show you round. If
you are meant for the theatre nothing can keep you away from it. The
only thing I can see against you is that you're a lady.'

'Is that against me?' asked Clara, a little astonished.

'Well,' replied Miss Wainwright, 'we're different.'

And indeed Clara discovered very soon that actors and actresses were
different from other people, because they concealed nothing. Their
personalities were entirely on view, and exposed for sale. They
reserved nothing. Such as they were, they were for the theatre and for
no other purpose, but to be moved at a moment's notice from theatre to
theatre, from town to town, from country