again. I was much praised and applauded in the theatre; but after a time I
cared very little for it; and as for the acting itself, I became thoroughly
sick of it. Oh, Rosalie dear, I have often and often fallen asleep, unable
to undress myself from weariness, after acting in the play; and again and
again I have wished that I had never seen the inside of a theatre, and
never known anything of the wretched life of an actress!

'We stopped for some time in the town where my mother lived, for Augustus
had an engagement in a theatre there, and he procured one for me. We had
miserable lodgings, and often were very badly off. I called at home a few
days after I was married; but the servant shut the door in my face, saying
that my mother never wished to see me again, or to hear my name mentioned.
I used to walk up and down outside, trying to catch a glimpse of my sister
Lucy; but she was never allowed to go out alone, and I could not get an
opportunity of speaking to her. All my old friends passed me in the
street--even the Roehunters would take no notice of me whatever.

'And then your father lost his engagement at the theatre,



--I need not tell you why, Rosalie darling,--and we left the town. And then
I began to know what poverty meant. We travelled from place to place,
sometimes getting occasional jobs at small town theatres, sometimes
stopping at a town for a few months, and then being dismissed, and
travelling on for weeks without hearing of any employment.

'And then it was that your little brother was born. Such a pretty baby he
was, and I named him Arthur after my father. I was very, very poor when he
was born, and I could hardly get clothes for him to wear, but oh, Rosalie