h us too, for I promised to have
luncheon with him again," she exclaimed, as Miss Lindsey began to insert
her into an evening wrap made of a priceless old Paisley shawl which
"Fashions" had also tempted Miss Elvira to desecrate with her scissors.

"Gerald Height?" asked Miss Lindsey, and her eyes first snapped and then
smouldered. "Where did he get in on--where did you meet him? Does Mr.
Vandeford know about it and--"

"I met him in Mr. Vandeford's office. He's in 'The Purple Slipper,' and
I went to luncheon with him to-day. I meant to tell you about it, and
meeting Mr. David, but Mr. Vandeford told me to get a nap and I thought
I--"

Here the speaking-trumpet in the hall informed Miss Lindsey that Mr.
Vandeford was waiting for Miss Adair below, and she had to let her
treasure depart from her.

"I wonder just how straight Godfrey Vandeford is," she mused, as she
picked up the discarded tucker of coarse netting. "The poor kid! I wish
she was at home hidden behind Miss Elvira's skirts. Hawtry and a girl
like that! Damn men!"

CHAPTER V

It may be that in the long life of Mr. Godfrey Vandeford he had passed a
more perturbed evening than that on which he led his protege, the author
of "The Purple Slipper," to her debut under the white lights of
Broadway, but he could not recall the occasion. His grilling had begun
while he waited for his charge to descend in the lobby of the Y. W. C.
A. and it ended--

"We are delighted to have Miss Adair stay with us while her play is
being rehearsed," a very pleasant young woman, with a trim figure, kind
and wise eyes, and gray-sprinkled hair, remarked to him after she had
whistled the fact of his arrival above. "When such men as you, Mr.
Vandeford, begin to put on clean historical plays, many of our anxieties
will be over. I look on each musical show that appears on Broadway as a
personal enemy."

"I am glad indeed, Madam, that we are going to claim you as a friend of
'The Purple Slipper,'" Mr. Vandeford answered, with his most pleasant
smile. Somehow the sight and sound of that executive young woman in
charge of his young author gave him a calmness that he needed, and his
confidence shone in his face.

"We are deeply interested in Miss Adair, for we have had influential
letters sent us about her, and of course we are looking forward with
eagerness to seeing her play. She is such a dear child!"

The influential letters and the increased warmth in the young woman's
t