Street to the theater. As she passed along Sixth Avenue
she happened to look up, and there, in huge, blazing electric lights,
she saw the name "Ethel Barrymore." She stood still, and the tears came
to her eyes. She knew that at last she had become a star.

Charles had said absolutely nothing about it to her. It was his
unexpected way of giving her the surprise of arriving at the goal of her
ambition.

The next day she went to Frohman and said, "It was a wonderful thing for
you to do."

Whereupon Frohman replied, very simply, "It was the only thing to do."

Ethel Barrymore was now a star, and from this time on her stage career
became one cycle of ripening art and expanding success. A new luminary
had entered the Frohman heaven, and it was to twinkle with increasing
brilliancy.

Her next appearance was in a double bill, "A Country Mouse" and
"Carrots," at the Savoy Theater, in October, 1902. Here came one of the
first evidences of her versatility. "A Country Mouse" was a comedy;
"Carrots," on the other hand, was impregnated with the deepest tragedy.
Miss Barrymore played the part of a sad little boy, and she did it with
such depth of feeling that discriminating people began to realize that
she had great emotional possibilities.

Her appearance in "Cousin Kate" the next year was a return to comedy. In
this play Bruce McRae made his first appearance with her as leading man,
and he filled this position for a number of years. He was as perfect an
opposite to her as was John Drew to Ada Rehan. Together they made a
combination that was altogether delightful.

It was while playing in a piece called "Sunday" that Miss Barrymore
first read Ibsen's "A Doll's House." She was immensely thrilled by the
character. She said to Frohman at once: "I must do this part. May I?"

"Of course," he said.

Here was another revelation of the Barrymore versatility, for she
invested this strange, weird expression of Ibsen's genius with a range
of feeling and touch of character that made a deep impression.

Charles now secured the manuscript of "Alice-Sit-By-The-Fire." He was
immensely taken with this play, not only because it was by his friend
Barrie, but because he saw in it large possibilities. Miss Barrymore was
with him in London at this time. Frohman told her the story of the play
in his rooms at the Savoy, acting it out as he always did with his
plays. There were two important women characters: the mother, played in
London by Ellen