The house rang with cheers. Men and women stood up and clapped and applauded and yelled like mad. When a semblance of order was restored, the local manager dismissed the audience. As he said, none of the performers were in condition to go on further after the little tragedy they had witnessed, which had ended so happily, after all. Nor was the audience in a mood for any more vaudeville after the bit of real life in which they had participated.
"How did it go off, Bill?" asked the brown-haired man of the local manager in the office half an hour later.
"Fine!" said the manager. "It was the greatest act I ever saw. You did splendidly, old man. I congratulate you."
"It has only one disadvantage," remarked the hard-featured man: "you can only do it once in each town. It's only good for one-night stands."
"And didn't Nellie do it well?" returned the other.
"She did that," replied the local manager; "she couldn't have done it better! It almost made me weep myself."
"That child's a born actress," said the hard-featured man; "she'll be a treasure some day, sure."
"She's a treasure now," replied the local manager. "What a pity we couldn't do it over to-night!"
"Do you know, men," said the brown-haired man, "I feel real guilty somehow. Seems like such a fraud——"