“Know,” spake Tragedy, “from Wisdom have I learned that thou and I emanate from the same source—born of the folly of man and nourished by his deeds. The tie between us is so strong that we must follow, each upon the other’s heels, as long as the road of life has its turnings.”
“Then come,” laughed Comedy, “a bargain let us conclude. Let each forever carry some suggestion of the other!”
So, with a tear in the eye of Comedy and a smile under Tragedy’s frown, they linked arms and proceeded down the road together.
[169]
]THE BACK DROP
CHAPTER I
———
RUDOLPH CLEEBURG
Presents
GLORIA CROMWELL
in
“LADY FAIR”
A Comedy-Drama
by
Bronson Reed
A car pulled up sharp at the curb and a woman leaned out to read the tall lettering. It loomed startling and white against a black ground. Along a street where theaters crowded each other like chorus girls in a manager’s office, that inky splash with its tracing of white paled to oblivion all the others.
The man beside her watched her eagerly, studied the delicate profile with a kind of hunger. When she turned, his eyes went alight at the smile in hers.
“It’s stunning, ’Dolph. But then you always do things right.”
“Y’mean that? Do I always manage to suit you, kiddo?”