ring in
life as for any one with my cravings for recognition there to be always
playing on the road."

She paused for a few minutes. There was a loud twittering of birds. A
rabbit who had stolen carefully through the undergrowth scurried away. A
car had come through the wood and swept past them, bringing with it some
vague sense of disturbance. It was some little time before she settled
down again to her story.

"At the end of those three years," she went on, "Sylvanus Power had
become richer, stronger, more masterful than ever. I was beginning to
lose heart. He was clever. He studied my every weakness. He knew quite
well that with me there was only one way, and he laid his schemes with
regard to me just in the same fashion as he schemed to be a conqueror
of men, to build up those millions. We were playing near New York and one
day he asked me to motor in there and lunch with him. I accepted. It was
in the springtime, almost on such a day as this. We motored up in one of
his wonderful cars. We lunched--I remember how shabby I felt--at the best
restaurant in New York, where I was waited upon like a queen. Somehow or
other, the man had always the knack of making himself felt wherever he
went. He strode the very streets of New York like one of its masters and
the people seemed to recognise it. Afterwards he took me into Broadway,
and he ordered the car to stop outside the theatre where I am now
playing. I looked at it, and I remember I gave a little cry of interest.

"'This is the new theatre that every one is talking about, isn't it?' I
asked him eagerly.

"'It is,' he answered. 'Would you like to see inside?'

"Of course, I was half crazy with curiosity. The doors flew open before
him, and he took me everywhere. You know yourself what a magnificent
place it is--that marvellous stage, the auditorium all in dark green
satin, the seats like armchairs, the dressing rooms like boudoirs--the
wonderful spaciousness of it! It took my breath away. I had never
imagined such splendour. When we had finished looking over the whole
building, I clutched his arm.

"'I can't believe that it isn't some sort of fairy palace!' I exclaimed.
And to think that no one knows who owns the place or when it is going to
be opened!'

"'I'll tell you all about that' he answered. 'I built it, I own it, and
it will be opened just when you accept my offer and play in it.'

"It all seemed too amazing. For a time I couldn't speak coherently. Then