"We are going to Florida—the land of the palms!" announced the manager. "You know I spoke of tentative plans for a drama down there when we were in the backwoods. Now I have everything arranged, and we will leave on a steamer for St. Augustine one week from to-day."
"Hurrah for Florida!" exclaimed a young actor, with a strikingly good-looking face. "There's where I've always wanted to go."
"So have I!" exclaimed a young girl who stood near him,—a girl with merry, brown eyes. "Will you take me out after oranges, Paul?" she asked, mischievously.
"Certainly, Alice," he answered.
"Why don't you say orange blossoms while you're about it?" inquired another actress, with a pert manner.
Alice blushed, and her sister Ruth looked sharply at Miss Laura Dixon, who had made the rather pointed remark.
"I'm willing to make it orange blossoms!" laughed the young fellow. "That is, if they're in season."
"Ah, stop all this nonsense!" exclaimed Alice. "I want to ask Mr. Pertell a lot of questions about where we're going, and all that. Oh, to think we are really going to Florida!"
"Yes, we are all going," went on Mr. Pertell. "I think—"
"One moment, if you please!" interrupted a middle-aged actor whose face seemed to indicate that he lived more on vinegar than on the milk of human kindness. "We are not all going, if you please, Mr. Pertell."