upon the civilized world as a revelation.

"I can remember no time at which I have not been conscious of my
mission. But six years ago, when I set out on my journey into the
world, I was scarcely more than a child. I had no influence--I knew
nobody; and so I had no chance of making a real appearance at once. I
had to begin by joining a touring company, and that only to play the
role of a servant girl. At the time I was glad of any beginning, for I
was confident I should make my way. But I soon found myself stranded.
Then what do you think I did?"

"You wrote a letter to Ingram--just as I did?" he exclaimed excitedly.

She laughed.

"That is very clever of you. It is exactly what I did. He had a
successful play running at one theatre and I read that he was at work
on a new play for another manager. I thought that, if I could only
induce him to see me, I might get a real chance. My letter produced
the desired effect, for in it I had told him exactly what my future
was to be. We had an interview and he perfectly agreed with everything
I had said about myself. But he swore he could do nothing for me. His
plays, he asserted, contained no fit part for me--it would be a
thousand pities if I let my strength and energies be dissipated
in playing minor parts that any intelligent school girl with a pair of
bright eyes could do ample justice to. Then he confided to me that he,
too, had plans and ambitions, but that he was not making nearly so
much money as he was said to be doing in the personal paragraphs of
the newspapers. He was putting aside, however, all he could spare, so
that he might have a vast theatre of his own; and if that came to pass
I was the one being on earth to be associated with him in such a
mighty undertaking. Would I stay with him and wait?

"So I stayed with him, and I have waited--six years! We have built our
vast theatre again and again--it was to be the vastest in the world,
so that my audience should be worthy of my great gifts. Time after
time have we gone together into every detail of the scheme, I always
believing that at last we were getting ready in earnest. You will
wonder, perhaps, how it is I have allowed myself to be deceived for so
long. It was because I believed in him during the first three years,
and during the second three I had already lost so much time that I
_dared_ not disbelieve in him. It was always: 'Just six months more,
Cleo, dear, and then we shall astonish the world.' And th