“Who's your friend, Lil?” asked a certain actor whose name is known from Portland to Portland.
“He's my new side partner,” she said, looking at the boy, who was not in the least abashed at the bold gaze of the negligently dressed soubrettes and the chaffing comedians who sat at the tables.
Everybody laughed. “What can he do?” was the general question.
“Get out there and show them, young one,” she said, pointing to the centre of the dining-room.
The boy obeyed without timidity. When he had sung and danced, there was hilarious applause.
“Good for the kid,” said the well-known actor. “What are you going to do with him, Lil?”
“I'm going to try to get an engagement for us together in Rose St. Clair's Burlesque Company.”
“I'll help you,” said the actor. “I know Rose. I'll go and see her right away, and you come there with the kid about 11 o'clock.”
When the girl and her protégé arrived at the boarding-house of the fat manageress they found that the actor had so far kept his promise as to have inveigled her into a condition of alcoholic amiability. She asked them what they could do. Each one sang and danced, and the girl, who also whistled, outlined to the manageress her idea of an “act” in which the two should appear. There was a hitch when the question of salary arose. The girl fixed upon $40. Rose thought that amount was too large. Lil adhered to her terms, and was about to leave without having made an agreement, when the manageress called her back, and a contract for a three weeks' engagement was signed at once.
The period between that day and the beginning of the engagement, which subsequently opened at Miner's Theatre, was spent by the girl in coaching her protégé. He was a year younger than she, a fact which tended to increase the influence that she promptly obtained over him. His sullenness having been overcome, he became a devoted and apt pupil. Having beheld himself in neat clothes and acquired habits of cleanliness, he speedily developed into a handsome youth of soft disposition and good behaviour.