Drawing her arm gently through his, he led her out of the dressing room, and a moment later they were upon the stage, which was thronged with the members of the company, who greeted him enthusiastically, and in tones of distinct relief. They, too, had been worried, and with good reason. Capable actors as they were, they well knew that if Demarest’s play failed to make a hit, many of them would be in a pretty bad way for a job. Unlike Marion Gray, they were far from being indespensable to the trust.
It was a trying moment for Dick. He did not even know one name from another, though he had thoroughly memorized the cast, and as soon as the rehearsal commenced, he would find out their various identities from the parts they took. Consequently, he plunged at once into the business at hand.
“Howdy, everybody,” he began cheerily. “Beastly sorry to have kept you all on the fence this way, but it couldn’t be helped. We’ll have to make up for lost time by hustling things along. Let’s get busy at once. Clear the stage for the first act.”
Once the plunge was taken, things came easier. The first act went through with a rush. Dick made few slips, and covered them so skillfully that no one noticed them. The cast was letter-perfect in their parts, and had rehearsed so often that they had the business at their finger ends.
Merriwell made several changes in the latter, which were all improvements. It was evident that Demarest knew Cambridge, and the ways of Harvard men to perfection, but he had slipped up a number of times in transplanting those ways to New Haven and Yale. They were little things, but Dick knew that the boys would notice them and probably josh, so he took it upon himself to do a little altering.
The big scene in the third act went with a dash which brought exclamations of enthusiastic appreciation from the actors. It was a scene which the star practically carried on his own shoulders, and they had never seen Demarest do better.
The last act followed swiftly, and, with a sigh of thankfulness, Dick realized that this ordeal was over.
He had decided not to go back to his rooms. In fact, he could not separate himself from the company now without creating suspicion. There was barely time for a hurried dinner before they would have to be back at the theatre, so every one made a swift rush to their dressing rooms, and in ten minutes they began to leave by the stage entrance.
Merriwell waited for Marion Gray. He felt that Demarest would have done that, and while she was changing her gown, he stepped out to the box office to see what the chances for a good house that evening were.
The ticket seller was enthusiastic. With the exception of a few seats in the rear of the orchestra and balcony, the entire house was sold out. Applications were constantly coming in over the phone, and he predicted that in half an hour only standing room would be left.