I don't like saying no; it is
always disagreeable to say no.' And seeing it would give her no
pleasure to sit, I did not ask her again."
"I'm sorry you missed seeing something very beautiful."
"I daresay she'd have sat if I'd have pressed her, but she was
under my protection, and it seemed cowardly to press her, for she
could not refuse. Suddenly we seemed to have nothing more to say
to each other, and I asked her if she'd like to see a manager, and
as it seemed a pity she should waste herself on the Gaiety Theatre
I took her to see Sir Edward Higgins. The mummer was going out to
lunch with a lord and could only think of the people he was going
to meet. So we went to Dorking's Theatre, and we found Dorking
with his acting manager. The acting manager had been listening for
a long while and wasn't sorry for the interruption. But we had not
been talking for more than two or three minutes when the call-boy
brought in a bundle of newspaper cuttings, and the mummer had not
the patience to wait until he was alone--one reads one's cuttings
alone--he stuck his knees together and opened the bundle, columns
of print flowed over his knees, and after telling us what the
critics were saying about him, mention was made of Ibsen, and we
wondered if there was any chance of getting the public to come to
see a good play. You know the conversation drifts."
"You couldn't get her an engagement," said Rodney, "I should have
thought she was suited to the stage."
"If there had been time I could have done something for her; she's
a pretty girl, but you see all these things take a long time, and
Lucy wanted an engagement at once.
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