g little versed in the
matters on which the rest discoursed so racily. Cleo gave him to
understand that these men, and others he had stumbled against in the
corridors of the theatre and who seemed to have an easy entree to her,
were those whose good will it was necessary to secure--critics,
journalists and the like. She further confided to him that she
considered she had achieved a triumph in drawing them round her. Asked
if they were of the first importance, she had to confess most of them
were attached to various weekly papers, whose influence, however, she
thought must be considerable. The names of the sheets were but dimly
familiar to Morgan and had that equivocal ring about them that
suggested vagueness of circulation. He did not quite approve of this
fawning on critics and hinted as much, whereupon Cleo insisted the
critics were only too glad to fawn on her.

"Do you suppose they have no insight?" she asked, "that they are
incapable of recognising beauty and genius? They can read the future
in my face, and for the sake of their own reputation they dare not
overlook or ignore me at the outset."

The world seemed to hold its breath on the last day, and Morgan was
conscious of a strange hush that seemed to hang over the crowded,
grinding thoroughfares. The last of the money had been spent in
advertising, and every portable effect, including his own watch, had
gone to raise more. All day long he lounged about the theatre in
feverish suspense. From the box office man--an incommunicative
individual with an absurd mustache, who spoke with an air of
resentment at being accosted--he learned that the advance booking had
been very slight, that, so far, the announcements and the various odd
paragraphs from the pen of Bohemian acquaintances, who had spoken very
favourably of Cleo's beauty, had failed to attract more than seven or
eight pounds.

But never for a moment did Cleo lose faith in the venture--that would
have been to lose faith in herself. Of course she knew her name was
absolutely unfamiliar to the public, she explained, in anticipation of
unsatisfactory takings, and, therefore, she could not expect to draw a
full house the first night. She had, however, taken steps to secure
appearances by an extensive distribution of paper. But she expected
the effect of her performance to be magnetic. She alone would stand
forth and the play and the rest of the players would scarcely obtrude
on the consciousness of the spectat