the Thames called to him, and behind this call was the appeal of old and
loved associations. With all his wonted enthusiasm he wrote to his
friends at Marlow telling them that he was coming over and that he would
soon be in their midst.

Frohman now made ready for this trip. When he announced that he was
going on the _Lusitania_ his friends and associates made vigorous
protest, which he derided with a smile. Thus, in the approach to death,
just as in the path to great success, opposition only made him all the
more decided. With regard to his sailing on the _Lusitania_, this
tenacity of purpose was his doom.

Whether he had a premonition or not, the fact remains that he said and
did things during the days before he sailed which uncannily suggested
that the end was not unexpected. For one thing, he dictated his whole
program for the next season before he started. It was something that he
had never done before.

When Marie Doro came to his office to say good-by he pulled out a little
red pocket note-book in which he jotted down many things and suddenly
said:

"Queer, but the little book is full. There is no room for anything
else."

Just as he was warned not to produce "The Hyphen," so was he now
cautioned by anonymous correspondents (and even by mysterious telephone
messages) not to take the _Lusitania_. But all this merely tightened his
purpose.

He met the danger with his usual jest. On the day before he sailed he
went up to bid his old friend and colleague, Al Hayman, good-by. Hayman,
like all his associates, warned him not to go on the _Lusitania_.

"Do you think there is any danger?" asked Frohman.

"Yes, I do," replied Hayman.

"Well, I am going, anyhow," was the answer.

After he had shaken hands he stopped at the door and said, smilingly:

"Well, Al, if you want to write to me just address the letter care of
the German Submarine U 4."

Those last days ashore were filled with a strange mellowness. Ethel
Barrymore came down from Boston to see him. They had an intimate talk
about the old days. When she left him she saw tears in his eyes. That
night, just as she was about to go on in "The Shadow" in Boston, she
received this telegram from him:

_Nice talk, Ethel. Good-by. C. F._

The _Lusitania_ sailed at ten o'clock on Saturday morning, May 1, 1915.
Even at the dock Frohman could not resist his little joke. When Paul
Potter, who saw him off, said to him:

"Aren't you afraid of the U boats, C.