"She was called before the curtain four times after her best scene, and
the applause was enthusiastic and genuine. That would have been enough to
base the belief on. But there was a second and bigger reason, said the
prophets, why her stay would be brief.

"The curtain later fell in silence on what should have been an impressive
climax for Ada Rehan, and was lifted a single time after the ushers had
incited a mild demonstration of personal regard for that favorite.

"It has never been customary to have at Daly's any other actress of
dramatic strength than Miss Rehan. The roles secondary in serious
importance have been played by charming but weak young women. As soon as
rivalry began, as in the case of Maxine Elliott, it was removed.

"In the sensational melodrama from Drury Lane, with the singularly
felicitous title or sub-title of 'The Kiss of Blood,' is a Russian
adventuress, who has an honest love affair, though she is a thief, and who
is the only female character to figure in the heroics of the play. Miss
Bates was assigned to it.

"She had come from California, and was unknown here. She proved to be
handsome, fiery, forceful, and very talented. She was a revelation to the
first audience, and it was disposed to go wild over her.

"Maybe it would have been better for Miss Rehan if the part had been given
to her. Perhaps she had disliked to enact a wicked woman. Anyway, she had
chosen instead to appear as a vain, frivolous, but clean and cheerful,
wife of a London tradesman.

"This had been written as an eccentric character, and at the Drury Lane it
had been played with irresistible drollery by Mrs. John Wood. But Miss
Rehan had no mind to look grotesque, and as to low comedy, it is clear out
of her line.

"In a serio-comic scene of somnambulism, where Mrs. Wood had been a fright
in curl papers and a funny nightgown, Miss Rehan sacrificed nothing to the
comic requirements. She was as dignified and stately as any _Lady
Macbeth_. For those reasons the sleep-walking episode, which had been very
valuable in London, counted for nothing here, and at its end the actress
had good reason to know that it had failed with the audience.

"It was then that experts foretold the withdrawal of the California
actress. She appeared at Daly's only one more night. She had not found
Daly's Theater comfortable."

Naturally, Miss Bates did not long remain without an engagement. She was
snapped up by the Lieblers for _Miladi_ in "The