When she took out the paper to read the
list of the presents she had received, could she give it a tap with
her finger (Yes)? And lead off with a little laugh (Yes--after twice
trying)? Could she read the different items with a sly look at the end
of each sentence, straight at the pit (Yes, straight at the pit, and as
sly as you please)? The manager's cheerful face beamed with approval.
He tucked the play under his arm, and clapped his hands gayly; the
gentlemen, clustered together behind the scenes, followed his example;
the ladies looked at each other with dawning doubts whether they had not
better have left the new recruit in the retirement of private life.
Too deeply absorbed in the business of the stage to heed any of them,
Magdalen asked leave to repeat the soliloquy, and make quite sure of her
own improvement. She went all through it again without a mistake, this
time, from beginning to end; the manager celebrating her attention to
his directions by an outburst of professional approbation, which escaped
him in spite of himself. "She can take a hint!" cried the little man,
with a hearty smack of his hand on the prompt-book. "She's a born
actress, if ever there was one yet!"
"I hope not," said Miss Garth to herself, taking up the work which had
dropped into her lap, and looking down at it in some perplexity.
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