“You hear?” said the manager, shrugging his shoulders. “She will not see you. Now go back to your seats and let me persuade her.”
“Señor!” He raised his eyebrows to the unexpected apparition of Cartwright. “What are you doing here?”
“I have come to see my friend,” said Cartwright, “Miss O’Grady.”
“It is forbidden to enter the theatre through the saloon of artistes,” said the small man pompously. “If Miss O’Grady is your friend, you must wait for her until the performance is over.”
Cartwright took no notice. He was a tall man of athletic build and shouldering his way past the others with no difficulty, he tapped on the panel.
“Miss O’Grady,” he said, “here is an English visitor wants to see you!”
“English?” said the voice. “Come in for the love of Mike!”
The door was opened, and a girl with a silk kimono pulled over her stage dress, offered him a smiling welcome. The young Spaniard who had been hammering on the panel of the door would have followed, but Cartwright’s arm barred him.
“Do you want this fellow?” he asked.
“Do I want him——” said Miss O’Grady bitterly, “do I want the scarlet fever or measles? You bet I don’t want him. He’s been pestering me ever since I’ve been here.”