end of
the week. As yet, however, nobody about the house had any suspicion of
the emptiness of the treasury.

The newspapers, he was glad to find, had dealt with Cleo very gently.
The notices were short and cold, just giving an outline of the play,
which, they said, was indifferently acted and practically a failure.
No mention was made of her indiscretion and it was perfectly obvious
from the tone of these notices that the writers had felt she had been
sufficiently punished, and that, for the rest, she was not to be taken
seriously. There came, too, a message from the censor, to whom,
somehow, last night's occurrence had got known, to the effect that the
beginning of the second act must be omitted, else he must forbid the
play to be repeated. From his letter it was clear the censor was
taking the same charitable view as the critics, and that he foresaw
the piece would very soon die a natural death. Cleo shrugged her
shoulders and wrote the necessary undertaking. Morgan understood that
her "innovation" might have got her into serious trouble, had not the
entire hopelessness of her acting proclaimed her as a person to be
pitied.

That same day Morgan could not help broaching the subject of the
finances. The money side of the enterprise had by now got stamped on
his brain. He had a grasp of the various items of their liabilities,
and he felt the responsibility for them to rest upon him. No longer
might he repose at ease in the secure shade of her mighty presence.
She, however, refused to bow her head under the weight of business
difficulties.

"We have till the week's end," she said. "There is nothing to worry
about now."

He did not find this reply reassuring and felt impelled to make out
for himself a list of the debts, including the salaries and wages that
would have to be provided for by the Saturday. The total amount was
about three hundred pounds, the same as the sum already expended. He
carefully put the list away in his pocket-book, with what end he knew
not.

In the evening the house presented a rather more than half-filled
appearance, a result which had been mainly achieved by paper. At the
box office the takings were only about seven pounds. It was quite
clear that Cleo, whatever gossip she might have caused in professional
circles, had created no profound sensation in the town, so that not
even a _succes de scandale_ was decreed to her. The play itself went
very fairly indeed this second time, though it