“What on earth shall I do?” he asked.
“Play the part yourself, as Hoyt does in such an emergency—or get Newgag.”
“Who's Newgag?”
“He's a friend of mine, out of a position. I met him to-day very much frayed.”
“Bring him to me.”
Newgag was overwhelmed when I told him of the opportunity.
“I never acted in straight comedy,” he said. “I can't do it. I might as well try to play Juliet.”
“He wants you only to speak the lines, that's all. You're a quick study, you know. Come on!”
I had almost to drag the man to the manager. He allowed himself, in a semistupefied condition, to be engaged. He took the part, sat up all night in his boarding-house and learned it, went to rehearsal almost letter-perfect in the morning, and nervously prepared to face the ordeal of the evening.
At six o'clock, he wished to go to the manager and give up the part.