pe."

XII

"ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE"

Kitty proved herself Joe's sister by falling desperately in love with
Hattie Sterling the first time they met. The actress was very gracious
to her, and called her "child" in a pretty, patronising way, and patted
her on the cheek.

"It 's a shame that Joe has n't brought you around before. We 've been
good friends for quite some time."

"He told me you an' him was right good friends."

Already Joe took on a new importance in his sister's eyes. He must be
quite a man, she thought, to be the friend of such a person as Miss
Sterling.

"So you think you want to go on the stage, do you?"

"Yes, 'm, I thought it might be right nice for me if I could."

"Joe, go out and get some beer for us, and then I 'll hear your sister
sing."

Miss Sterling talked as if she were a manager and had only to snap her
fingers to be obeyed. When Joe came back with the beer, Kitty drank a
glass. She did not like it, but she would not offend her hostess. After
this she sang, and Miss Sterling applauded her generously, although the
young girl's nervousness kept her from doing her best. The encouragement
helped her, and she did better as she became more at home.

"Why, child, you 've got a good voice. And, Joe, you 've been keeping
her shut up all this time. You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

The young man had little to say. He had brought Kitty almost under a
protest, because he had no confidence in her ability and thought that
his "girl" would disillusion her. It did not please him now to find his
sister so fully under the limelight and himself "up stage."

Kitty was quite in a flutter of delight; not so much with the idea of
working as with the glamour of the work she might be allowed to do.

"I tell you, now," Hattie Sterling pursued, throwing a brightly
stockinged foot upon a chair, "your voice is too good for the chorus.
Gi' me a cigarette, Joe. Have one, Kitty?--I 'm goin' to call you Kitty.
It 's nice and homelike, and then we 've got to be great chums, you
know."

Kitty, unwilling to refuse anything from the sorceress, took her
cigarette and lighted it, but a few puffs set her off coughing.

"Tut, tut, Kitty, child, don't do it if you ain't used to it. You 'll
learn soon enough."

Joe wanted to kick his sister for having tried so delicate an art and
failed, for he had not yet lost all of his awe of Hattie.

"Now, what I was going to say," the lady resumed after several