or his company, "you appear a youth of some little education--eh?"

"I trust that will not unfit me for your company?" I said.

"On the contrary, young man," he said, "we are in want of educated
actors; but what brings you in this pitiful plight?"

"The frowns of fortune," I observed, laconically.

"Ah!" he observed, with a smile; "I understand. Well, what can you do?"

"My _forte_," I replied, "is high tragedy."

"Ah! I dare say," said he, satirically, "and I've no doubt you'll tell
me that Macbeth, Hamlet, and Othello are your chief characters."

"Precisely so," I replied; "that is just what I mean to say."

"I thought so," he said. "My dear young man, you're stage-struck like
many others at your age. All you youngsters, when you begin, fancy that
you are going to leap over the heads of us old experienced actors with a
bound; but in everything you must begin at the beginning, and you will
have to serve your apprenticeship at acting as well as anything else."

"Serve my apprenticeship!" I muttered to myself, indignantly. "_I_, the
son of a gentleman, serve an apprenticeship!"

But I held my peace, as it did not suit me to quarrel with the manager
at the onset.

"You must content yourself at present with small parts," said the
manager, "such as a page or walking gentleman, or, being yet very
youthful looking, you might take a female part."

The latter part of the manager's speech offended my dignity, but I said
nothing.

"Come," said he, "let me see what you can do. Give me your idea of
Hamlet. Begin with, 'To be, or not to be.'"

I accordingly began at the well-known passage, and recited it all the
way through.

"Not so bad, by jingo!" said he. "Bravo! I did not think you were such a
clever fellow. Now do the dagger scene in Macbeth."

I then went through that with equal success, and received very high
praise from the manager, who engaged me on the spot. I gave out a hint
that I had eaten nothing all day, and was very hungry, so the manager
invited me to supper. I made the acquaintance of all the other strolling
players--a queer lot--who looked at me askance, doubtless because they
saw I came of a rather better stock than they themselves, and probably
they speculated on what they could make out of me.

Early the next morning we all started for London, and my _debut_ was
made in a low London theatre, where I took the part of a young lady
carried away by brigands. In the next piece I acted a page, in