“But I see where I might improve it,” said Ralph, thoughtfully. And truly enough he did improve each night he played the servant and other small parts.

Then, at the end of a month, Merrithorne’s ankle recovered, he returned to the theatre, and Ralph once more found himself out of work.

What was his next step to be?


CHAPTER IX

“If I were loved, as I desire to be,

What is there in the great sphere of the earth,

And range of evil between death and birth,

That I shall fear, if I were loved by thee?”