“Don’t know Rosamond Silvertree?” Mr. Bernstein struck the table with the palm of his hand. “Sir, you’re behind your times! She’s a motion-picture star, sir! She’s my ideal woman, Colonel Denbigh. She’s five feet eleven inches, and she weighs one hundred and eighty-seven pounds. She’s a peach, sir! Got those blue eyes that go to the heart, and her hair’s the color of butter—makes you think of good butter in spring-time! I have her on the screen all the time. The poor girl’s nearly worn out. The only trouble is you can’t always get men to play opposite to her. Greenfield comes up one day last month. ‘Sammy,’ says he, ‘I can’t put Rosy in “The Dream of the Harem.”’ ‘What in thunder d’you mean by that?’ says I. ‘Can’t do it,’ says he. ‘Jack Pickling’—that’s our leading man—‘Jack Pickling looks like a shrimp beside of her!’ What d’you think I did, Colonel Denbigh?”
The colonel shook his head gravely.
“I’ve no idea, sir. Put her on a diet?”
“Diet? Rosy? No, sir! I fired Jack Pickling!”
Bernstein lay back in his chair and smiled. He felt that he had reached the climax, but the climax was lost on Colonel Denbigh.
“If your leading lady is so fine, I shouldn’t think you’d need Mrs. Carter,” he observed mildly.
Mr. Bernstein smiled with a superior air.
“That’s just why I do need her! You see, Rosy won’t do for these little teeny-weeny ingénue parts. She’s too grand! Mrs. Carter’s the kid for those. That’s what I want her for. But this Aristide Corwin”—Mr. Bernstein leaned over the table and touched the colonel’s sleeve with his fat forefinger—“Aristide ain’t behaving like a gentleman, Colonel Denbigh. He knew the lady in France, and he’s got some kind of a pull. I guess he wants her in vaudeville again. She’s been there once, I know. He’s using his methods—they ain’t mine, sir! He’s talkin’ bad, he—”
Colonel Denbigh rose abruptly and stood looking down on Mr. Bernstein from his full height.
“I know the Carters, sir,” he said sternly. “I’ve known Mr. Johnson Carter since I was a young man. His boys played on this place. I have the honor of his daughter-in-law’s acquaintance. You will kindly drop this subject, sir!”