the wife, and I'm the only woman in the cast. It's
terrible. I ought to be thankful to get the part these days. And I was,
too. But I didn't know it would be like this. I'm going crazy. The men
in the company are good kids, but I can't go trailing around after them
all day. Besides, it wouldn't be right. They're all married, except
Billy, who plays the kid, and he's busy writing a vawdeville skit that he
thinks the New York managers are going to fight for when he gets back
home. We were to play Athens, Wisconsin, to-night, but the house burned
down night before last, and that left us with an open date. When I heard
the news you'd have thought I had lost my mother. It's bad enough having
a whole day to kill but when I think of to-night," the leading lady's
voice took on a note of hysteria, "it seems as though I'd----"

"Say," Pearlie interrupted, abruptly, "you ain't got a real good
corset-cover pattern, have you? One that fits smooth over the bust and
don't slip off the shoulders? I don't seem able to get my hands on the
kind I want."

"Have I!" yelled the leading lady. And made a flying leap from the bed
to the floor.

She flapped back the cover of a big suit-case and began burrowing into
its depths, strewing the floor with lingerie, newspaper clippings,
blouses, photographs and Dutch collars. Pearlie came over and sat down
on the floor in the midst of the litter. The leading lady dived once
more, fished about in the bottom of the suit-case and brought a crumpled
piece of paper triumphantly to the surface.

"This is it. It only takes a yard and five-eighths. And fits! Like
Anna Held's skirts. Comes down in a V front and back--like this. See?
And no fulness. Wait a minute. I'll show you my princess slip. I made
it all by hand, too. I'll bet you couldn't buy it under fifteen dollars,
and it cost me four dollars and eighty cents, with the lace and all."

Before an hour had passed, the leading lady had displayed all her
treasures, from the photograph of her baby that died to her new Blanche
Ring curl cluster, and was calling Pearlie by her first name. When a
bell somewhere boomed six o'clock Pearlie was being instructed in a new
exercise calculated to reduce the hips an inch a month.

"My land!" cried Pearlie, aghast, and scrambled to her feet as nimbly as
any woman can who weighs two hundred pounds. "Supper-time, and I've got
a bunch of letters an inch thick to get out! I'd better reduce t