"Excepting when?"
"It's of no consequence, Palmer."
"But I demand to know when I was ever nervous," insisted the would-be actor.
"Well, you were rather put out when the husband of that variety actress called upon you."
"Oh! Well—er—I'll admit it. But that was an unusual case, wasn't it?"
"I presume so. Does she know you are going on the stage?"
"Yes; I took particular pains to let her hear of it, through one of the ladies of our combination."
"And did you hear what she said?"
"The lady says she laughed and said I would ruin Dixon. But I'll show her that she is mistaken," added Livingston Palmer, drawing himself up to his full height and inflating his chest. "Robert, I am a born actor—I feel it in my bones."