inexperience. The
theatre-going public knows the trick. The days of such barn-storming are
passing away.

Mr. Fogg, who was the _Armand_, did not make a profound impression. The
part suited him like an ill-fitted garment, and he felt it. The
realization of that fact took all the vim out of him. If the real truth
was known, he, no doubt, wished himself back in his little second-story
back in the big city, gossiping of what he might, but could not, do if
he had the chance. Handy was cast for the part of the _Count de
Varville_. He was not great in the character, but he could wrestle with
it. Was there a role in the whole range of the English drama he would
decline to take a fall out of if circumstances demanded?

"Say, you'll have to throw more ginger into the part, old fellow," said
Handy, as the hero of the carmine blouse of benefit memory walked across
the stage, looking very disconsolate after the first act. Neither he nor
the star received the slightest applause during their scenes.

"Wait until the fourth act, the great act of the piece," replied Fogg,
"and I'll fetch 'em. You just watch me."

"All ready for the second act," cried out the call-boy. A few seconds
later the curtain went up and the play proceeded. Nothing of particular
moment transpired during the act. The audience sat through it as tamely
as if listening to a funeral sermon. _Camille_ was painfully tame;
_Armand_ as harmless a lover as any respectable parent could desire. The
remainder of the cast, influenced, no doubt, by the shortcomings of the
principals, became listless and merely walked through their parts as
they spoke their lines.

At the close of the act a number of people left the house. They
evidently had had enough and did not care for more. The "angel" also had
had enough of "Camille," and wished the whole thing was over. Fogg also
had had enough of _Armand_, and mentally avowed that never again would
he undertake a stage lover to an "angel" without experience. In passing,
it may be added that an experienced "angel" would not accept Fogg for a
_Claude_ at any price. Handy had enough of both of them, with something
to spare. In desperation he even expressed regret he did not have a hack
at _Armand_ himself and infuse some life into it. If he had there would
have been fun, for Handy's lovers were fearfully and wonderfully made.

The third act passed pretty much as the two preceding acts, only more
so, with fewer people in the house to