"Yes, a number of times, and since you withdrew your restrictions, I have had dinner with him frequently, but you know all about that."
"I couldn't expect you to be cooped up all the time," Clayton admitted, "especially when your salary leaped upward so amazingly. And I don't blame you for taking a more comfortable apartment in the Webster. Aunt Jane's boarding-house was all right for the chorus girl, but a trifle too passé for the future star."
Martha shook her head sadly. "I think I was happier in those days than now," she mused. "The more one attempts, the greater the chance for failure. To-night I realize what is the ambition of most players, yet, somehow, I am filled with dread. It doesn't seem right that I, plain Martha Farnum, should be rushed upward like a skyrocket. Though the rocket shoots upward in a blaze of glory, the stick must fall."
"Good heavens, you mustn't anticipate bad luck," protested Clayton, cheerily. "I'm going out front and witness your triumph."
"If it only is a triumph!" sighed Martha.
"It will be," insisted Clayton. "However, don't be nervous. Remember if you ever need me, I will be within call. Au revoir—and good luck to you," he added cordially, and in another moment he had gone, while Martha stood staring blankly before her, and wondering what the night would bring forth.
"Oh, Miss Farnum," cried Lizzie, suddenly emerging from the dressing-room, "you'd better hurry and dress for the first act. It is almost time for the overture."
"All right, Lizzie," answered Martha, going to the room and beginning to disrobe. A moment later, Miss Pinkie Lexington, made up for the part of a fashionable society woman, entered the green-room cautiously, and crossed to the door behind the boxes.
"Where can he be?" she murmured to herself. Then, hearing the call-boy crying "Overture, overture," in the distance, she started quickly toward the stage, only to pause abruptly when she found herself face to face with Miss Flossie Forsythe, neatly attired in a maid's costume, and wearing a white apron and cap.
"Oh, I wouldn't have come here, if I'd known you was here," declared Flossie, angrily.