d with Belasco. Did you have any lunch?"

"Yes. The blond one drove me out for half an hour."

"I should have gone with you."

"Why?"

"I would never sit anywhere seven hours."

"What would you have done?"

"Gone to Belasco's house, or telephoned something startling that would
have brought him down quickly."

"For instance?"

"Well, that the theatre was on fire."

"But when he got there?"

"I'd have made him see it was a joke."

"Maybe he hasn't that kind of a sense of humour?"

"Then I should have perished bravely."

So the incidents of their first day's careering ended jocularly.

Bambi called Mr. Strong on the wire next day, and told him of Jarvis's
unprofitable sitting. Could he get her a letter to Belasco? Or to any
other leading manager? He laughed, said he did not know Belasco, but
thought he could arrange it for her. He promised to send a letter to
the club.

With this assurance to fall back upon, she persuaded Jarvis to go to the
office of one of the newer managers who seemed to be of an open mind in
regard to untried playwrights. She showed him a magazine article about
this "live wire," named over his productions, and repeated his cordial
invitation to new writers.

Jarvis set forth reluctantly. He liked salesman work as little as he had
expected to. But he felt he owed some effort to Bambi, since he was her
guest, and her mind was so set on his success.

This time the cheeky-faced office boy admitted that the manager was in.
He accepted and scrutinized Jarvis's card with disdain, but on his
return from the inner office he ejaculated, "Wait!" So Jarvis sat down
for his second endurance feat. The same Johnnies and Billies and Fays
came to this office in their endless seeking. He began to vision the
great, ceaseless army of them "making the rounds," as they call it,
often hungry and tired. They were most of them uneducated, you could
tell by their speech, for all their long "a's" and short "r's." That
they were physically unadapted to the profession was obvious enough in
many cases. They were probably badly trained. How did they live? Where
did they go? They began to haunt him.

He was interrupted by hearing his name called. He rose mechanically, and
followed the boy into a very large and ornate office. A fat Jewish man,
in loud clothes, a brown derby hat, and a cigar, sat at a desk,
dictating.

"H'are ye?" he ejaculated as Jarvis entered. He went on dictating and
smoking, until Jarvis