where the next day's sustenance may come from! That she"--

He broke off abruptly, gazing at his companion half-apologetically.
"We players, sir," he resumed, "present a jovial front, but"--tapping
his breast--"few know what is going on here!"

"Therein," said the younger man, emptying his pipe, "you have stated a
universal truth." He pushed a smoldering log with his foot toward the
remnants of the embers. "Suppose I were so minded to venture"--and he
mentioned a modest sum--"in this hazard and we patched up the play
together?"

"You don't mean it?" cried the manager, eagerly. Then he regarded the
other suspiciously: "Your proposal is not inspired through sympathy?"

"Why not through the golden prospects you have so eloquently
depicted?" replied Saint-Prosper, coldly.

"Why not indeed!" exclaimed the reassured manager. "Success will come;
it must come. You have seen Constance but once. She lives in every
character to her heart's core. How does she do it? Who can tell? It's
inborn. A heritage to her!"

His voice sank low with emotion. "Yes," he murmured, shaking his head
thoughtfully, as though another image arose in his mind; "a heritage!
a divine heritage!" But soon he looked up. "She's a brave girl!" he
said. "When times were dark, she would always smile encouragingly,
and, in the light of her clear eyes, I felt anew the Lord would temper
the wind to the shorn lamb."

"One--two--three--four," rang the great clock through the silent hall,
and, at its harsh clangor, Barnes started.

"Bless my soul, the maids'll be up and doing and find us here!" he
exclaimed. "One last cup! To the success of the temperance drama!"

In a few moments they had parted for their respective chambers and
only the landlord was left down-stairs. Now as he came from behind the
bar, where he had been apparently dozing and secretly listening
through the half-opened door leading into the kitchen, he had much
difficulty to restrain his laughter.

"That's a good one to tell Ezekiel," he muttered, turning out the
lights and sweeping the ashes on the hearth to the back of the grate.
"To the temperance drama!"

CHAPTER VI

THE DEPARTURE OF THE CHARIOT

Down the hill, facing the tavern, the shadows of night were slowly
withdrawn, ushering in the day of the players' leaving. A single tree,
at the very top, isolated from its sylvan neighbors, was bathed in the
warm sunshine, receiving the earliest benediction of day. Down, down,
c