“Very kind of you, I am sure,” the girl snapped.
“I don’t wish to persuade you to stay with us against your inclination. In our present shape, we can’t give you what you need.”
“I should think not!”
“One of my purposes, however, in this enterprise was to discover just such talent as I think you have, and develop it. Perhaps, if I can’t help you in one way to develop your talent, I can in another.”
Miss Delacourt deigned to pause in her toilette to stare at Brainard.
“I’m sure you have the real thing in you, even after this one unfortunate performance. I can’t tell whether the vein will hold deep, whether you have the character to develop it thoroughly, or will be content with the superficial success you might easily achieve in one of the commercial theaters. But I want to help you to do better than that—to give your talent a chance.”
“Well?”
“You must go where you can study—where you can see good acting also. You must go abroad—to England and France and Germany.”
The girl’s eyes opened wider and wider. She murmured:
“But that would take a sight of time and money, and I haven’t a cent in the world!”