“Good gracious,” said Jessica.  “I shall retire in confusion if he looks at me.  I won’t dare aspire to a part now, and I had designs on the part of Phebe.”

“Don’t be a goose,” said Nora.  “He’s only a man.  He can’t hurt you.  I think having him here will be a lark.  Won’t some of those girls put on airs, though.  There he is talking with Miss Tebbs now.”

The girls entered the gymnasium to find there nearly all of those who had attended the first meeting in the library increased by about a score of girls who had decided at the last minute to try for parts.  Eleanor stood at one end of the great room, with Edna Wright and Daisy Culver.  Grace thought she had never seen Eleanor looking more beautiful.  She was wearing a fur coat and hat far too costly for a school girl, and carried a huge muff.  Her coat was thrown open, disclosing a perfectly tailored gown of brown, with trimmings of dull gold braid.  She was talking animatedly and her two friends were apparently hanging on every word she uttered.

“No wonder Eleanor has an opinion of herself,” said Nora.  “Look at Daisy and Edna.  They act as though Eleanor were the Sultan of Turkey or the Shah of Persia, or some other high and mighty dignitary.  They almost grovel before her.”

“Never mind, Nora,” said Grace.  “As long as you retain your Irish independence what do you care about what other girls do?”

“I don’t care.  Only they do act so silly,” said Nora, with a sniff of contempt.

“Sh-h-h!” said Jessica softly.  “Miss Tebbs is going to call the meeting to order.”

A hush fell over the assembled girls as Miss Tebbs stepped forward to address them.

“I am very glad to see so many girls here,” she said.  “It shows that you are all interested in the coming play.  Although you cannot all have parts, I hope that you will feel satisfied with the selection made this afternoon.  In order that each member of the cast may be chosen on her merit alone, my old friend, Mr. Southard, kindly consented to come from Albany for the sole purpose of giving us the benefit of his great Shakespearian experience.  Allow me to introduce Mr. Everett Southard.”

He was greeted with a round of applause, and after bowing his thanks, the eminent actor plunged at once into the business at hand.

He spoke favorably of the idea of an all-girl cast, saying that each year many girls’ colleges presented Shakespearian plays with marked success.  The main thing to be considered was the intelligent delivery of the great dramatist’s lines.  The thing to do would be to find out what girls could most ably portray the various characters, it would be necessary to try each girl separately with a few lines from the play.  In order to facilitate matters, he suggested that those girls who really desired speaking parts step to one side of the room, while those who wished merely to make the stage pictures, step to the other.