Even Miss Garth, though
she tried hard to find them, could put no fresh obstacles in the way.
The question was settled in five minutes, and the rehearsal went on;
Magdalen learning Julia's stage situations with the book in her hand,
and announcing afterward, on the journey home, that she proposed sitting
up all night to study the new part. Frank thereupon expressed his fears
that she would have no time left to help him through his theatrical
difficulties. She tapped him on the shoulder coquettishly with her part.
"You foolish fellow, how am I to do without you? You're Julia's jealous
lover; you're always making Julia cry. Come to-night, and make me cry at
tea-time. You haven't got a venomous old woman in a wig to act with now.
It's _my_ heart you're to break--and of course I shall teach you how to
do it."
The four days' interval passed busily in perpetual rehearsals, public
and private. The night of performance arrived; the guests assembled; the
great dramatic experiment stood on its trial. Magdalen had made the most
of her opportunities; she had learned all that the manager could teach
her in the time. Miss Garth left her when the overture began, sitting
apart in a corner behind the scenes, serious and silent, with her
smelling-bottle in one hand, and her book in the other, resolutely
training herself for the coming ordeal, to the very last.
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