“It’s so natural, Guv’nor,” complained Mellish, another old-timer.
Miss Fullar shook her head wisely. “That’s it; too natural.”
“It is not for big effects we must try,” said Eliphalet, “but for the little ones. The big effects in this play arise from the little. Therefore we must try to create a standard excellence.”
It was, perhaps, the nearest approach toward expressing the essentials of a modern production he ever made.
“Yes, but how are we to do it?” old Kitterson questioned.
“Oh, we shall see,” said Eliphalet, rather feebly, and subsided into his chair again.
At supper that night he was rather dejected.
“Cheer up, Dads,” said Mornice. “After all, you and I have most of the work to do, and we shall make things go.”
He answered her rather seriously.
“I can see what to do with you,” he said, “for you are far astray from the part. It is the others who perplex me.”