established leading man of that ilk, Vorly Surbilt. Miss Lyston had
come to the rehearsal in a condition of exhausted nerves, owing to
her husband's having just accepted, over her protest, a "road"
engagement with a lady-star of such susceptible gallantry she had
never yet been known to resist falling in love with her leading-man
before she quarrelled with him. Miss Lyston's protest having lasted
the whole of the preceeding night, and not at all concluding with
Mr. Surbilt's departure, about breakfast-time, avowedly to seek
total anaesthesia by means of a long list of liquors, which he
named, she had spent the hours before rehearsal interviewing female
acquaintances who had been members of the susceptible lady's
company--a proceeding which indicates that she deliberately courted
hysteria.

Shortly after the outraged rehearsal had been resumed, she
unfortunately uttered a loud, dry sob, startlingly irrelevant to
the matter in hand. It came during the revelation of "Roderick
Hanscom's" secret, and Potter stopped instantly.

"Who did that?"

"Miss Lyston, sir," Packer responded loyally, such matters being
part of his duty.

The star turned to face the agitated criminal. "Miss Lyston," he
said, delaying each syllable to pack it more solidly with ice,
"will you be good enough to inform this company if there is
anything in your lines to warrant your breaking into a speech of
mine with a horrible noise like that?"