ws more and cares more
than she did. It seems to me that there is a little growing soreness in
her mind, and just now if I refuse to let her have that play it will
destroy her confidence in her friends, as it were. She won't reproach me,
she won't quarrel with me, but it will go to her heart. Do, for heaven's
sake, Kendal, help me to some plausible fiction or other!'

'I wish I could,' said Kendal, pacing up and down, his gray hair falling
forward over his brow. There was a pause, and then Kendal walked
energetically up to his friend and laid his hand on his shoulder.

'You oughtn't to let her have that play, Wallace; I'm quite clear on
that. You know how much I like her. She's all you say, and more; but art
is art, and acting is acting. I, at any rate, take these things
seriously, and you do too. We rejoice in it for her sake; but, after all,
when one comes to think of it, this popularity of hers is enough to make
one despair. Sometimes I think it will throw back the popular dramatic
taste for years. At any rate, I am clear that if a man has got hold of a
fine work of art, as you have in that play, he has a duty to it and to
the public. You are bound to see it brought out under the best possible
conditions, and we all know that Miss Bretherton's acting, capped with
Hawes's, would kill it, from the artistic point of view.'

'Perfectly true, perfectly true,' said Wallace. 'Well, would you have me
tell her so?'

'You must get out of it somehow. Tell her that the part is one you feel
won't suit her--won't do her justice.'

'Much good that would do! She thinks the part just made for her--costumes
and all.'

'Well, then, say you haven't finished your revision, and you must have
time for more work at it; that will postpone the thing, and she will hear
of something else which will put it out of her head.'

'There are all sorts of reasons against that,' said Wallace; 'it's hardly
worth while going through them. In the first place, she wouldn't believe
me; in the second, she won't forget it, whatever happens, and it would
only put the difficulty off a few weeks at most. I feel so stupid about
the whole thing. I like her too much. I'm so afraid of saying anything to
hurt her, that I can't _finesse_. All my wits desert me. I say, Kendal!'

'Well?'

Wallace hesitated, and glanced up at his friend with his most winning
expression.

'Do you think _you_ could earn my eternal gratitude and manage the thing
for me? You know