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 night before at home and Jimmy, doubled with laughter, had rolled off his chair onto the floor. Of course her father hadn't laughed but he had joined in the general applause and thought that whatever Minnie was trying to do, she was doing it very well. He was willing to bet anything he had that Minnie would show them all up when it came to "performing." (They could never get him to use with ease the words "acting" or "actress.")

"Well, young lady," said Bacon, as Minnie stood before him, "I'm beginning to wonder what you are going to do for us."

Minnie was undaunted by his bantering smile or the sarcasm in his voice. She was getting used to men like this. Binns was sarcastic and Letcher tried to imitate Bacon. The girls had told her how Hal Deane often lashed the people working for him with stinging ridicule.

"Have you got anything particular in mind?" she asked, adding with unmasked assurance, "If you ain't, I got a couple o'things I can do if you want me to."

Bacon merely nodded, but this was encouragement enough for Minnie.

"Shall I do the Chink Act for you?" she asked eagerly. "It's a little stunt I got up by myself."

"My God," he finally managed to say to Deane, who had ambled over to the set, "this is a hell of a rag-tag and bobtail business. If it weren't for the money in it I'd go back to the stage. At least you've got to have a little pretense of intelligence in that profession."

Minnie, not understanding him, didn't know whether Bacon was laughing because she had spoken in such a cute little voice and with such a cute little smile, or because he was making fun of her. She dismissed the latter thought immediately; he couldn't have singled her out if he hadn't taken a personal interest in her.