sted on having before they'd
so much as go into the ring, he was just about cleaned out. So there you
are!"

Sally had listened with dismay to this catalogue of misfortunes.

"Oh, poor Fill!" she cried. "How dreadful!"

"Pretty tough."

"But 'The Primrose Way' is a big success, isn't it?" said Sally, anxious
to discover something of brightness in the situation.

"It was." Mrs. Fillmore flushed again. "This is the part I hate having
to tell you."

"It was? Do you mean it isn't still? I thought Elsa had made such a
tremendous hit. I read about it when I was over in London. It was even
in one of the English papers."

"Yes, she made a hit all right," said Mrs. Fillmore drily. "She made
such a hit that all the other managements in New York were after her
right away, and Fillmore had hardly sailed when she handed in her notice
and signed up with Goble and Cohn for a new piece they are starring her
in."

"Ah, she couldn't!" cried Sally.

"My dear, she did! She's out on the road with it now. I had to break the
news to poor old Fillmore at the dock when he landed. It was rather a
blow. I must say it wasn't what I would call playing the game. I know
there isn't supposed to be any sentiment in business, but after all we
had given Elsa her big chance. But Fillmore wouldn't put her name up
over the theatre in electrics, and Goble and Cohn made it a clause in
her contract that they would, so nothing else mattered. People are like
that."

"But Elsa... She used not to be like that."

"They all get that way. They must grab success if it's to be grabbed.
I suppose you can't blame them. You might just as well expect a cat to
keep off catnip. Still, she might have waited to the end of the New York
run." Mrs. Fillmore put out her hand and touched Sally's. "Well, I've
got it out now," she said, "and, believe me, it was one rotten job. You
don't know how sorry I am. Sally. I wouldn't have had it happen for a
million dollars. Nor would Fillmore. I'm not sure that I blame him for
getting cold feet and backing out of telling you himself. He just hadn't
the nerve to come and confess that he had fooled away your money. He was
hoping all along that this fight would pan out big and that he'd be
able to pay you back what you had loaned him, but things didn't happen
right."

Sally was silent. She was thinking how strange it was that this room in
which she had hoped to be so happy had been from the first moment of her
occupancy a storm