arsal about Christmas. Mrs.
Dazian, wife of Henry Dazian, the costumier, was watching a scene in
which William Faversham plans the ruin of Viola Allen, the leading
woman.

"Well," said Mrs. Dazian, "if New York will stand for that it will stand
for anything."

Frohman jumped up in excitement. "What is wrong with it?" he cried. "The
manuscript was shown to a dozen people of the cleanest minds. They found
nothing wrong. I've done the scene a dozen times. I have it up-stairs on
my shelves at this moment in 'The Sporting Duchess.'"

Mrs. Dazian was obdurate. "It is awful," she said.

The first night approached. Potter was to sail for Europe next day.
Frohman had provided him with sumptuous cabin quarters on the _New
York_. After the dress rehearsal, Potter appeared on the Empire stage,
where he found Frohman. The latter was worried.

"Paul," said he, "the first three acts are fine; the last is rotten.
You must stay and rewrite the last act."

Potter had to postpone his trip. At ten next morning the new act was
handed in; the company learned and rehearsed it by three in the
afternoon, and that night Frohman and the author stood in the box-office
watching the audience file in.

"How's the house, Tommy?" demanded Frohman of Thomas Shea, his house
manager.

"Over seventeen hundred dollars already," said Shea.

"You can go to Europe, Paul," said Frohman. "Your last act is all right.
We don't want you any more."

The American public agreed with Mrs. Dazian. They thought the play
excruciatingly wicked, but they were just as eager to see it on the
Fourth of July as they had been six months earlier.

A dozen details combined to make "The Conquerors" a storm-center. First
of all it was attacked because of its alleged immorality. In the second
place the author was charged with having appropriated some of Sardou's
"La Haine." In the third place, this play marked the first stage
appearance of Mrs. Clara Bloodgood, wife of "Jack" Bloodgood, one of the
best-known men about town in New York. Mr. Bloodgood became desperately
ill during rehearsals, and his wife divided her time between watching at
his bedside and going to the theater. Of course, the newspapers were
filled with the account of the event which was agitating all society,
and it added greatly to popular interest in the play.

[Illustration: _HENRY MILLER_]

"The Conquerors" not only brought Paul Potter and Frohman a great
success, but it sped William Faversham on