Meanwhile I had seen Mr. Blythe Pratt, the Manager, and told him about the joke; with the result that when Tommy appeared, with six rather nondescript-looking friends, he was received with every courtesy, and given a private box for the evening.
Of course he was delighted. Vistas of unlimited free entertainments loomed before his excited imagination.
“Where shall I go to-morrow night?” he asked.
“Oh,” I said. “Why not try the T——,” mentioning a Hall where there was, I knew, an unusually grumpy and quick-tempered manager.
He went. What exactly transpired there I never heard. But I can imagine the scene.
Tommy was quite upset about it.
“Oh,” there must have been some mistake, I told him. “Try the Palace to-night.”
And he actually did try it. But that finished it. The reception he met with there finally cured him of all further desire in the direction of cadging for free seats.
By the way, here is a funny story that occurs to me as I write.
Although it is not generally known to the public, it is, nevertheless, a fact that Houdini, the world-famous “Handcuff King,” and Hardeen, his rival in the business, are brothers.