The Honey-Pot

nd adding a final "e" to the term, that is what she was-chorus-lady by courtesy, showgirl in the vernacular of the stage. On her small dressing-table were ranged a number of pots and bo

corner of the table danced with minut

sity and recklessness. Paint and powder were a habit with her, not an exigency. No girl of nineteen could have needed them less. Her complexion, well-nigh flawless, bloomed beneath the

rance this morning. A card stuck in the edg

Stannard, Dr

ALL TH

, June 22nd

laint, measles, and was more than usually hard-up. Her choice of garments was as limited as her means, yet twice she changed her mind about one or another of them before she was satisfied that she looked her best. Her efforts to that end finished with the t

e stage before her. Always on the stage herself since childhood, familiarized with its careless, hand-to-mouth existence, its trials and its exuberances, she had become worldly-wise at ten and a woman at fifteen. But the life did not demoralize her. The bad example of a mother's frailty and intemperance had been her safeguard. She had never lost her head or her heart. She did not rate herself very high, but she rated men lower. Apart from this she had no hidebound views about life or morality. Since her m

worship than timepieces of magnitude, convenient when you do not possess a watch. She counted the strokes, ten of them, darted to the glass fo

she sang out. "You don't w

Miss Delamere!" shout

es in her hand-high-heeled ones of the sort t

give them an extry

le she buttoned them her landlady went on her knees and

veying her lodger with approval. "I should look out for the but

hatever you've got, if

terbury lamb an

rig

otor-bus that would take her within a stone's throw of the Pall Mall Theater. In a quarter of an hour she had reached that imposing e

ross the unlit footlights was a gloomy void, pierced by an occasional gleam from an open door at the back of the pit o

o their left an upright piano was set askew with the conductor of the orchestra seated at it. At the back of

at restaurants and the demerits of landladies. These topics ran into one another and overlapped. Others, with giggles, imparted risky anecdotes in undertones. Most of them appeared to be taking the situation with the calmness of habit. Nervousness showed in a few faces; anxiety in one or two. One pale-faced gir

change from it to close attention of what was going on around her. Her fine eyes went alertly over those present and came to rest on a girl of about her own age whose quiet manner and dress of severe black singled her out from the rest. She was tall and slight, very much in the style of the women in Shepperson's drawi

she asked nervously, making it

y with friendly cheerful

N

hy of beginners. First thing they'll ask you at the table is what

peared in public.

or a shop-an en

. Ever since I

f disappointment that came into her voice.

g. Lots of us are out for months. You'll

t wait

asked with quic

ll be

re you living? You're differ

k hesitated and

arding-house until to-day. I had to leave. I shall have to find roo

earest them. Each felt attracted

y keep y

y shoul

u meant you c

staying there. I rang the bell and called the landlady. I don't understand why, but she bl

bea

e said, "though I've no doubt the woman was just as bad. There are houses like that. Fancy you n

nager rapped

ease! We'll

them had hitherto evinced was gone now. They were there to be engaged. Even the most self-assured became serious, made so by the competitive eq

ou with the boa," proceeded the s

led off the prelude without the waste of a moment. The girl

d of. Not more than one out of four was called to the table for her or his name to be recorded. All the while the singing was going on

, now and then jerking out a subdued comment on the proceedings

Off she goes. She's crying. The brute! He needn't have said it! ... That's Mortimer. She'll get taken on.... Knew it at once. Down g

ly down to the table

ng?" inquired th

ust, Mr. Powell?" was her jaun

, I suppose?

ise. Aren't I good

, during which he appraised

of yourself i

nty at my agen

. Name, pl

e footlights? She shrank from singing to these blasé-looking men who gave the impression of damning before they heard. Then she saw that Maggy

lease," sa

to fill that huge auditorium, after all. So far, she was the onl

er day," said the stage-manager, stopping her

name, Alexa

u been in?" c

uld answer Ma

tour in 'The Camera

dre

y came to

Sidey Street. Then you'll

ade for the wings. When they were in th

if you like. I've nothing

dn't been

, r

here a room in the house where you live?" she asked, actuated

it. That would be seven-and-six each. But"-she made a wry face-"you wouldn't like it. It's slummy. Ther

nvitation i

o come," sa

he held up her hand to a 'bus driver. "My chauff

rd after her. They climbed to the top, and were rattle