ened her
appetite. She read on in the swift, skipping fashion that would have
crushed an author's hopes, but which grasped the high lights and caught
the deep tones. Then the woman looked up and there were genuine tears in
her eyes.

"The little brick!" said the voice of loveliness and thrills, "the
splendid little trump! Why, Camden, she had her ideals--real, fresh,
woman-ideals--not the ideals plastered on us women by men, who would
loathe them for themselves! She just picked up the scraps of her damaged
little affairs and went, without a whimper, to the doing of the only job
she could ever hope to succeed in. And she let the man-who-learned go!
Gee! but that was a big decision. She might so easily have muddled the
whole scheme of things, but she didn't! The dear, little, scrimpy,
patched darling.

"Oh! Camden, I want to be that girl for as long a run as you can force.
After the first few weeks you won't have to bribe folks to come--it'll
take hold, after they have got rid of bad tastes in their mouths and
have found out what we're up to! Don't count the cost, Camden. This is a
chance for civic virtue."

"Do you want more cigarettes, my dear?"

"No. I've smoked enough."

Camden drew the manuscript toward him. "It's a damned rough diamond," he
murmured.

"But you and I know it is a diamond, don't we, Camby?"

"Well, it sparkles--here and there."

"And it mustn't be ruined in the cutting and setting, must it?" The
angel was wearing her most devout and flattering expression. She was
handling her man with inspired touch.

"Umph! Well, no. The thing needs a master hand; no doubt of that. But
good Lord! think of the cost. This out-of-door stuff costs like all
creation. Your gowns will let you out easy--you can economize on _this_
engagement--but have a heart and think of me!"

"I--I do think of you, Camby. You know as well as I that New York is at
your beck and call. What you say--goes! Call them now to see something
that will make them sure the world isn't going to the devil, Camden. In
this scene"--and here the woman pulled the manuscript back--"when that
little queen totes her heavy but sanctified heart up the trail, men and
women will shed tears that will do them good--tears that will make them
see plain duty clearer. Men and--yes, women, too, Camby--_want_ to be
decent, only they've lost the way. This will help them to find it!"

"We've got to have two strong men." Camden dared not look at the
pleading f