Page:Girls of Central High on the Stage.djvu/212



the scenes just before the curtain rose upon the first act of "The Spring Road" there was such a bustle, and running about, and whispering, and excited signals and fragmentary talk, that it did look, Jess said, as though matters never would be straightened out.

Did this one know his or her part perfectly? Was this dress right? Oh, dear! how can this one be made to look right "from the front?" And a thousand other doubts and queries.

No matter how many times a play is rehearsed, it does seem just before the opening performance as though a dozen things would happen to spoil the effect of the first appearance. And to the author of the play it seems as though every person in that audience is a carping critic!

Jess peered through the peephole in the curtain and saw that the hall was crowded.

"I just know it will be a failure!" she moaned to her chum, Laura Belding. "It will be laughed at. I feel it!"