tart 'The Purple Slipper' on Monday. Yes, that's its blooming name.
By!"

* * * * *

"Is it William Rooney to stage 'The Purple Slipper'?" asked Mr. Meyers,
with a shrug of his narrow shoulders as he began pecking out on his
machine the notes that were to guide his chief in picking the artists
who were to embody the characters in the play founded on the life
romance of that old grandame Madam Patricia Adair of colonial Kentucky.

"Why do you reckon Samuel Goldstein likes to build up a reputation for
himself on Broadway by the name of William Rooney, Pops?" inquired Mr.
Vandeford, with the idle curiosity of a free and untroubled mind.

"It is the prejudice against Hebrews for a reason," answered Mr. Meyers,
with a glint in his gem-like eyes and a wave of color flushing across
his high, scholarly forehead.

"Well, the top crust of the whole show business is Hebrew, and I should
think the bunch of you would be proud of the fact. I'm even proud that a
man named Adolph Meyers runs this whole company, and me included," said
Mr. Vandeford, without taking the trouble to note the wave of gratified
pride, devotion, and embarrassment that swept over the countenance of
his faithful henchman. "Now I'll get a little booking for your 'Purple
Slipper,' and that is all you need expect me to do, except shoulder all
the loss I haven't shunted on Denny."

"It is to be a win, not a loss," murmured the loyal Adolph under his
breath, with a glance of affection at the absorbed Mr. Godfrey
Vandeford.

This vow of Mr. Adolph Meyers shows that it is as dangerous to arouse
the affection and loyalty of one genius as it is to incur the anger of
another.

The casting of "The Purple Slipper" was a joy to Mr. Dennis Farraday. He
was to pay well for it in the future, but it was conducted in pure glee.
He sat beside Mr. Godfrey Vandeford in the latter's long, Persian
carpeted, soft-tinted, and famous-actor-photograph-bedecked, private
office beside that eminent producer, and watched the strong light from
over their shoulders reveal the points of the men and women who came in
to exhibit themselves. From the moment they entered the door, through
the walk or waddle or lope or saunter with which they approached their
fate to the expressions of joy or disappointment which their emotions
showed under Mr. Godfrey Vandeford's grilling, Mr. Farraday was deeply
interested.

"You know, Bebe, it is not necessary to put on mo