Blue-grass and Broadway

into the calm life of Miss Patricia Adair of Adairville, Kentucky. Suddenly she found herself a cog screwed tight

whisper caught and was answered, and they almost seemed to be breathing one breath, so absorbed were they in the destiny of their mutual adventure. Like all women of her kind, Patricia Adair had known men only through a cloud, which sex traditions had firmly held between her and them, and Godfrey Vandeford was the first man she had encountered since she had slipped outside of its deadening density into a world where men and women en

ford?" the former had

p and so forth for booze. Remember, they've got to face it, we

two years, and they all et every night and

oe

m hungry," said Miss Adair, as the

hich he was not sure Miss Adair really gave when she was pleased. He was too busy to think about anything but the rush and roar of the machinery of "The Purple Slipper," so he just kept Miss Adair so near him for all the waking hours of the day that he could have no occasion to have his thoughts distracted by worrying over just what might be befalling her. Day after day he extracted her from the Y. W. C. A. at ten o'clock a. m

ose so early or with such ease. Also, his awakening on those mornings after was not so joyou

entirely relieved each time by finding the look intact in the gray eyes raised to his in eager

and whom do you suppose we saw there?" she demanded on on

eaking through the frown with which he had instan

ys treats him badly when they are rehearsing together. I think Mr. Height is perfectly wonder

Mr. Vandeford ove

nd how you pushed her along until she could buy that lovely house we passed, in which the Trevors are staying whil

e?" demanded Mr. Vandeford, pushing his c

ayed out there in th

ch with the same temper he had used on his coffee-cup. "B

ess she deserted the last half of the rosy peach, took an orange from the bowl before her and s

or that same youthful unsophistication. "Height or somebody will get it all across t

rd's name had not stuck in the consciousness of the author of "The Purple Slipper." "I-I was introduced to them too-because you know you said that I must-must accept broad standards, and

d, uncertain as

rank some champagne. I like cider better,

d to be at the door instantly when Miss Adair was in Mr. Vandeford's car,

in to polish the whole for dress rehearsals," Mr. Vandeford sa

old me, too, that

ch Inn, though he began to listen intently to that same gentleman and Bébé Herne in the beginning of the great scene of the now au

a black, sooty mop. "That scene needs something. It isn't big and simple enough. What did she say to him in your first layout, miss?" he demand

in her gray eyes as she rose in the box, and gave the six lines as she had written th

guff. Put that in, Fido, and write it in, Miss Herne," commanded Mr. Roon

joy at having something of the "big scene" express what she had intended that she was clasping

nds into his warm, strong ones, unseen in the shadow of the box. "You keep g

as they both turned back to the stage and watched their machine begin to run on greased wheels. Mr. Vande

. Farraday, Mr. and Mrs. Van Tyne, and several other old Manhattaners, who had fallen under the spell of the young Kentuckian who had in an off moment perpetrated "The Purple Slipper," to go to Atlantic City the following week to be upon the spot for the opening of the play. Suites in the great new hotel were engaged by long-distance telephone, time-tables discussed, and trains settled upon by the time tea was over and the golden sun had let the twilight purple the rosy plumes of the hu

to control the tenderness in his voice

ered him, with a little catch in her voice. "I

her arms. "I wonder if you'll let me take my author back to town in a hurry to-night, Mater Farraday," he pleaded, with the affectionate smile in both his voice an

th a keenness under the affection in

share that ordeal with me. He's impossible, and demands-everything. I gave him a perfectly new and wonderful hat that cost a hundred and ten dollars for the second scene

andeford hurriedly, as though he feared that Mrs. Farraday would

Miss Adair and making plans for their future meeting. "How lovely it would be!" she murmured to herself, with a

e producer and his

d almost to a whisper as Valentine sped them along the country road perfumed and dusky w

ore the opening," Mr. Vandeford assured her, with a laugh keyed to matc

you and I had had to stand all-" Words failed Miss Adair in ima

whole Hawtry situation, which was haunting him day and night; to begin with the purple, letter-manuscript hunch, which he had lightly taken up to spank Miss Hawtry for trying to double-cross him with Weiner abo

er that he reached out his hand and captured a part of it, a white, slim little hand that nestled into his as though it were not in any way aware of doing so. "I'm going to dinner with Miss Herne to-morrow night, so Mr. Kent can show me

stammered as a desperate opening for letting his author know just

ndard' that prevailed in my profession. I like both of those people a lot. What business is it of

deed he did have a sinking sensation, which, strange to say, was relieved by a quick

nate and lonely. Mildred says she doesn't believe he is as lonely as he tells me he is, but I know he is. I asked Miss H

himself to be? And who was this girl, anyway, to come out of a little back-woods town where the standards of life were so narrow that all who could lived out of them in degrading secrecy, and make him feel himself unworthy when he had lived openly in a way about which his own conscience had not troubled him? Why did he hesitate to tell her about his affair with the Violet and his anxiety about her contract, and why should his face burn at the thought of telling her how he had coolly let his best friend in for the prospect of an affair with the star for the purpose of protecting her and her play? And why should the sex and business standards of his world be entirely different from those o

nd, God willing, I'm g

place in the grinding of the machine that was to turn out a perfected play on the following Tuesday night at Atlantic City. Ev

nd dressmakers were fitting costumes, and the property man was checking over and over each demand of each and every person, from the fresh rose Mr. Kent was to give to Dame Carrington to the mud that was to be splashed every day upon Mr. Gerald Height's riding-boots for his last and triumphant entry. Miss Adair ha

le strain; the sense of being one with Mr. Godf

ck under his brows, and Mr. Adolph Mey

?" Mr. Vandeford demanded on the Thur

be, and-it is to Syracuse or Toronto we must jump, Mr. Vandeford, si

s the day we open in Atlantic City, and there we'll close,

it opened," Mr. Meyers said, wi

it's had a thorough Broadway try-out, Pops," said

a Broadway opening be

l do," Mr. Vandeford said slowly as if turning his back

th a bitter defiance in his eyes that made Miss Adair keep close

The fear for her play in those gray eyes sent Mr. Vandeford into desperate measu

Atlantic City, Van?" she asked as soon

e parried, putting his s

n except to the Coast. They'll eat up 'The Rosie Posie Girl' in Chicago and San Francisco." Miss H

tion with another not put in words, but so well did he know the workings of her shrewd, small mind that he saw th

r. Vandeford walked into

a good thing, for the rights of "The Rosie Posie Girl" had been hotly contested by all the big theatrical managers on Broadway the winter before, and Mr. Vandeford had got them from Hilliard because of his success with "Dear Geraldine" by the same author. They had all coveted it because it was one of those combinations about the success of which there could be no doubt. In offering W

out Hawtry, no, Mr. Vandef

ths from now?" quest

rd, and I do not trade in futures," answered

will you take for the New Carniva

ew Carnival Theater on October first, with option for the entire season, Mr. Vandef

out H

right now-in pickle,"

al certainly be fini

tainty of a la

give me to answer?"

at five o'clock to-day, Mr. Vandeford. I will call it six o'clock for you," answered

r. Vandeford answered him, and with

the chair she very seldom occupied, but which was hers by tenancy. On the desk were a pair of silk gloves she had left there the day before, and in a blue vase were several roses in a good state of preservation, which he recognized as having come from a bunc

's really great producers. The show was big enough in conception to admit of a spectacularly artistic treatment, which he had intended to give it so that it would place musical comedy on a plane upon which it had never stood before. He knew himself well enough to know t

tainty of that week from the twenty-third to the first during which he had no legal hold on the fair Violet. He felt reasonably sure that the announcement that "The Purple Slipper" would open the big new Weiner theater, with all the clash of publicity which he could give to it, would hold her steady on her job, but as he laid it down on the scales, it had to be classed as an uncertainty. The fifteen per cent. seat sales based on Mr. Ger

ffice. He there rang his buzzer for Mr. Meyers, and seated himself with the air of a man who has had a b

er' at the New Carnival Theater, good guarantee for that month, and an option on a run to the limit for eight-thousa

ord, sir, I must

don't say

ith this incoherent pronouncement of sympathy and encouragement, though devastated at the loss of "The Rosi

telephone, and plunged into the last lap of the race of "The Purple Slipper." Until four o'clock he was closeted with the most brilliant th

, Mr. Dennis Farraday, all about it,

was too big a price to pay," Mr. Farrada

y calmness. "'The Purple Slipper' wil

Farraday, with helpless

way." Mr. Vandeford said this with a coldness in tone and voice that he had to force hard. His attitude was that

py face that Mr. Vandeford groaned inwardly at the fact that he did not understand, and wou

ay morning, so the whole bunch can have a plunge and a good rest-up before the Mond

nd he betook himself off for other good-natured

er all, so many human beings, who have to be given at least a day for such animal functions as packing trunks, closing apartments, dodging creditors, and severing home ties, and he carried her off to the country with the intention of having her all to himself for dinner at a little inn up Westchester way. After they had started in that direction and were flying behind Valentine along sun-gilded country lanes, he changed his mind, changed

as silvering the poplar under which they sat on an old stone bench at the bottom of the sunken garden. "Everyb

joiced with pride that his author did not yet know of eith

time felt certain that he was the first man who ever had been certain of it; and just as his breast and arms were hollowing themselves to nest

enjoyed it all immensely, and at times she very timidly joined in the fun, which was centering itself upon putting Mr. Leigh of the uncertain feet, and Miss Grayson, the glowerer, into white ribbon bonds, which bonds were suppl

nt, and at various times during the several hours' run Mr. Vandeford, Mr. Height, and Miss Adair occupied it with respectful tribute, but most of the time Mr. Farr

The Purple Slipper"-in honor of Miss Hawtry. They were working with the stage-carpenter, the property-man, and the electrician until a late

'em to-morrow night, and I want to start with 'em unstrung and string 'em to suit myself. That little author is some girl, but I wonder why Vandeford wanted to shunt that white devil onto a

oducer of "The Purple Slipper," and at that moment they were in

nd we must have that diffusion for the dinner scene so as to make the candle effect seem real," Mr. Vandeford was saying with great an

n't wait until to-morrow night to really see the play with the costumes and scenery and lov

in the car," threatened Mr. Vandeford, with a laugh, but he adjusted

ope Mildred isn't as-as tired as I am and-and can help me. I'll go to bed with my clothes on if she doesn't,

g Italian youth, with an alarm which puzzled him as much as it would have puzzled many of his friend

s-rehearsal day in the complete collapse which the sea air induced, and they were in a good condition for

nsisted on procuring a bathing-suit and initiating her into that sport. She assented to the proposition with the greatest eagerness, and in less than half an hour she had trusted herself to the arms of Mr. Gerald Height and the Atlantic Ocean. They were both rough in their handling, and finally she came to resent the boldness of the

rying. Now-now, by George, I know," he said, with a boyishness coming into his murky eyes. "Say, you know my mother was a Kent

e, you'll stay by me and 'The Purple Slipper,' won't you?" Miss Adair a

after she has allowed him to tell her just how wicked he is or thinks he is. "I thought the whole thing was a flivver, but when Vandeford got the ope

rty. Thank you for-for being my friend." As she rose from the sand Miss Adair held out her hand to Mr. Height, with the friendliness

elf as he dressed for his early dinner. "I'm going to put this fool play across for her, too." There are a f

enery, and costuming, and that allowance was only for time, not in smoothness. As he willed, his cast generally performed. The cast of "The Purple Slipper" was of experienced actors, and he felt certain that they would meet his expectations. At six-thirty o'c

tressed by the producer as usual, while Mr. Dennis Farraday, the angel,

minutes the author glowed with such joyous excitement that the producer felt the actual radiations; then little by little he felt her begin to cool, and a chill ran up and down his own spine as Hawtry and Height held the stage alone in the first dash of Howard-"pep

t a good scenery man out on the early morning train. That back-drop must have a toning wash: it jumps out at the

brilliant sensuality, with Mr. Height supporting her in broad lines that could be well-read between. Once the author looked at Mr. Dennis Farraday in the box opposite, and then looked away fro

am to be used on Tuesday night, which Mr. Vandeford had given her and upon which she observed the name Patricia Adair in type only slightly smaller than

e gave Mr. Vandeford a semblance of a smile as he seated himself beside her just before Hawtry came on the scene to

ne, and beautiful in his velvet and ruffles, Gerald Height followed her to thereupon enact a scene which was a slow and marvellous distilling of the very wine of emotion intended to go through human

oss even on Broadway. The censor will close the show. Play

our Irish name." Maggie Murphy sprang out from the body

om beside the author of the violent scene that was becoming a

g to tell me how to act." Maggie was now commanding the Violet, and she was wild with nervous rage. "

Miss Lindsey," commanded Mr. Rooney, in his mac

gone on before her with an agility unlike her usual slow gait. There was nothing for Miss Hawtry to do but retire to the wings, which she did, and with the nervous bomb

the storm, for she had fled at the Violet's attack upon Mr. Vandeford, and while he s