e ticket-seller bobbed her head backwards. "First door on the
left."

The policeman stalked through the lobby, and found the door; knocked
belligerently, and stepped inside. "You the manager? Well, there
ain't goin' to be no show today, see?"

Henry jumped to his feet. "What's that?"

"You heard what I said. No show. Close up your theatre and call it a
day."

Henry turned, for moral support, to his wife: she had already hurried
to his side. "What's all this, Mr. Officer?" she asked, unsteadily.

"It's police orders; that's what it is, young lady."

She seized Henry's hand. "But--but when we've--why, you don't really
_mean_ it, do you?"

He dug into his pocket, and produced a tattered, dog-eared pamphlet,
folded open at one of the early pages. He read aloud, slowly:
"'Whosoever shall fail in the strict observance o' the Lord's Day by
any unseemly act, speech, or carriage, or whosoever shall engage in
any manner o' diversion or profane occupation for profit--'"

Anna, holding tight to Henry's hand, knew that argument was futile,
but she was a woman, and she had a husband to defend. Her heart was
leaden, but her voice was stout with indignation.

"But Mr. Policeman! Do you know who I am? I'm Judge Barklay's
daughter. _I_ know all about that ordinance. Nobody's ever--"

He held up his hand in warning. "That's _all_ right, young lady. If
you're his daughter, you oughter keep on the right side o' the law. It
won't do you no good to bicker about it neither--you go in there an'
tell your audience to get their money back, an' go on home."

Henry picked up his cigarette. He had no craving to smoke, but he
didn't want Anna to see that his lips were trembling. "Well," he said,
"there goes the old ball-game. And we've sold every seat in the house,
and thrown away three hundred dollar's worth of souvenirs, and the
sidewalk's full of people waiting for the second show.... Knockout Mix
beats Battling Devereux in the first round." He did his best to smile,
but the results were poor. "And when we held off three days just so we
could start on Sunday with a grand smash!"

"Get a move on, young feller. If the show begins, you're pinched, see?
You go in there and do what I told you."

From within there was a sudden rattle of applause. Anna gripped
her husband's arm. "It's ... it's begun already," she said,
breathlessly.

The policeman stepped forward. "You heard me tell you to stop it,
didn't you? What are you tryin' to do-