He re-addressed the two returned copies and posted them, with a silent, fervent prayer. There were but six managers in all to whom the play would be of possible use, and half of these had already refused.
“Even chances, old boy; we mustn’t throw up the sponge yet.”
Then he returned to minister to his partner.
“I’ll have some champagne to-day—champagne, a sole, and a dish of quails. We can afford ’em now,” croaked old Bulmore. “No longer any need for economy.”
And to maintain the lie Eliphalet bought all he asked for, and more besides.
When the nurse came he told her of his deception, and between them they kept the story going. Eliphalet invented a wonderful interview with Lambert, in which he had asked for and been accorded exceptional terms. Rehearsals would be beginning in a very short while——
“And, by Jove, Sefton, we shall have such a cast!”
And so the poor fraud went on, and twice more the play was returned.
It was almost more than Eliphalet could endure, but he kept a firm lower lip, and saw it through.
About three o’clock one night the nurse awoke him.