“I’m not dead yet!” grated Lawrence. “Fowler went down in the quicksands, but I managed to float away. I hid under the river’s bank, and there I stayed, like a hunted wolf, till you gave up looking for me. I swore to settle the score with you, but——”
“You tried hard enough. You were the one who entered my room at the hotel.”
“Was I? Prove it.”
“I don’t have to. The job you tried to do here is enough. That will put you safely away. Somebody call an officer.”
An officer was called, and Lawrence was taken away.
The audience in front had heard some of the commotion behind the scenes and had grown rather restless, but they were soon calmed. An orchestra was on hand to play, and everything was carried out as if it had been a regular performance.
The first act went off well, and it received mild applause. The second act seemed to take full better, but still, the audience had not been aroused to any great show of enthusiasm.
Then came the third act. The first surprise was Burns. He literally convulsed the audience by the manner in which he burlesqued the Shakespearian tragedian. He astonished Frank, for Merry had not dreamed the old actor could be so intensely funny. Even Hodge was seen to smile once!
When Burns came off after doing an exceptionally clever piece of work, which caused the audience to applaud most heartily, Frank met him and grasped his hand, saying:
“My dear Mr. Burns, you have made the comedy hit of the piece! Your salary shall be fifty dollars a week, instead of forty.”