“They got married and came back to town just as happy as if nothing had ever happened.  My, I hope Wilbur and I will be that way!  I think he is sincere even if he does write good notices about girls in his show.

“Well, I must toddle along and see if Wilbur has cashed his yet, so that I can get the rest of that new hat.  If it ain’t too much trouble you can send me a bunch of flowers for our opening night in Hartford.  So long.”

The show gives its opening performance and Sabrina scores a great personal success.  She speaks at some length of the kissing craze and makes several comments on the time she had while out of town.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Are you coming to the opening tonight?” began Sabrina, the Show Girl, before she had given her order.  “I don’t know if you can get a seat or not, because the management is tired of having the same old gang out in front, and have donated about two-thirds of the house to the ladies at the Martha Washington, for they know more about a real show than anybody, because they read the dramatic page of all the fashion magazines, and the other third of the house will be taken up by the dramatic critics and their friends.

“We had a great opening in Hartford.  The theatre was crowded four rows back.  The first act went great, but we couldn’t tell how the last one went, because nobody but the author and composer stayed for it, and they are a little partial.

“I scored a great personal triumph, and the way I read my lines was not only greeted with applause, but with laughter.  In fact, I made such a decided hit that the prima donna, who, by the way, is worse than the first, because she drinks, had the manager take my lines away from me and give them to somebody who could not read them as well.  If I wasn’t afraid she would blackball me for the P.W.L.  I would raise a kick.  The idea of an old frump like that letting professional jealousy interfere with Art.

“After the performance that night the author got busy and rewrote the whole second act, and had it all ready by the time we landed in Washington.

“Do you think we get a chance to rush around and mingle with the Congressmen and other such truck?  Not on your life.  It was to the show shop for us and do the big rehearsal all day, and we only had time to slip out and soak up a sandwich and get back in time for the evening’s performance.

“I changed my tights from blue to pink for the first night and scored another personal triumph.  So much so that the soubrette made it a point to stand in front of me every time she did a number with the chorus.  She belonged over on the other side in front of the Glonesganes creature, in order to dress the stage, and the manager jumped all over her for moving.

“The show went big that night, and the next day some of the critics spoke favorably of it.  I don’t care what they say, it’s a good show, and as the plot has been almost entirely eliminated it should go well here.