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 Minnie wanted to imitate Alicia's disdainful expression as she answered, "I've accepted all I'm goin' to from you, Al Kessler, and I want you to know you showed yourself up for what you was this morning." Then with undisguised triumph as she turned to walk away from him, "I guess I can make some friends without your help, Mr. Kessler, I ain't poison ivy."

While Bacon was rehearsing the leading woman, Eleanor slipped away from her tiresome post by the stairway and sought Minnie.

"Am I getting on, Eleanor?" Minnie asked eagerly. "Do you think I got a chance here, with Binns so nice to me?"

Eleanor nodded. She had been through enough to make her bitterly cynical. "Play them for all they're worth, Minnie," she advised, "and give them nothing. You don't have to, and you can get away with it. I mean," she added, "the small fry. Of course it's different with the big ones. They're worth landing, especially if they've got something that you want. Gee, if you could only get a fellow like Hal Deane interested in you. Or Binns. They'd treat you decently. I've heard it rumored that Binns is going West to be the studio manager of a big new organization."

"Al Kessler told me to put the works on Letcher, Eleanor. I've certainly done it, too."

"I see you have. But that's just what I'm advising you against. Letcher is a four-flusher. He's just old Bacon's echo and Bacon's got no real confidence in him. You can't go very far with a fellow like that. He belongs to the little fry I'm talking about."

She kept repeating with irritating persistence, "Play for the big ones. That's the best advice I can give you. Somebody's bound to come along when you're young and pretty."

"Don't any of the girls make good by themselves?" asked Minnie.