anything you wish,
or that I can."

Godolphin poured out a cloudy volume of suggestion, with nothing clear
in it but the belief that the part of Haxard ought to be fattened. He
recurred to all the structural impossibilities that he had ever desired,
and there was hardly a point in the piece that he did not want changed.
At the end he said: "But all these things are of no consequence,
comparatively speaking. What we need is a woman who can take the part of
Salome, and play it with all the feminine charm that you've given it,
and yet keep it strictly in the background, or thoroughly subordinated
to the interest of Haxard."

For all that Godolphin seemed to have learned from his experience with
the play, Maxwell might well have thought they were still talking of it
at Magnolia. It was a great relief to his prepossessions in the form of
conclusions to have Grayson appear, with the air of looking for some
one, and of finding the object of his search in Godolphin. He said he
was glad to see Maxwell, too, and they went on talking of the play. From
the talk of the other two Maxwell perceived that the purpose of doing
his play had already gone far with them; but they still spoke of it as
something that would be very good if the interest could be unified in
it. Suddenly the manager broke out: "Look here, Godolphin! I have an
idea! Why not frankly accept the inevitable! I don't believe Mr. Maxwell
can make the play different from what it is, structurally, and I don't
believe the character of Salome can be subdued or subordinated. Then why
not play Salome as strongly as possible, and trust to her strength to
enhance Haxard's effect, instead of weakening it?"

Godolphin smiled towards Maxwell: "That was your idea."

"Yes," said Maxwell, and he kept himself from falling on Grayson's neck
for joy.

"It might do," the actor assented with smiling eagerness and tolerant
superiority. "But whom could you get for such a Salome as that?"

"Well, there's only one woman for it," said Grayson.

"Yolande Havisham?"

The name made Maxwell's heart stop. He started forward to say that Mrs.
Harley could not have the part, when the manager said: "And we couldn't
get her. Sterne has engaged her to star in his combination. By the way,
he was looking for you to-day, Mr. Maxwell."

"I missed him," answered Maxwell, with immense relief. "But I should not
have let him have the piece while I had the slightest hope of your
taking it."

Neither