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 place where I work and try for the stage. I've always been just crazy for the stage. But my family's got a lot o' old-fashioned ideas, too. Every time I suggest it they throw cold water on it."

"That's a family all over, honey. But I wouldn't let them worry me if I were you. If you've got talent for the higher art, they can't nag it out of you, or beat it out of you! No, by God, they couldn't out of me, though, honey, you can believe it if you want to or not, but there were times when I was so blue and downhearted that I even tried to kill myself."

Minnie sat spellbound. Her heart beat violently. How strange, she thought, that they, whose lives had been so much alike, should have found each other. Her eyes glowed with interest. Her head arched on her slender neck. Unconsciously she drew back her shoulders, and as she breathed Al noticed the rise and fall of her small, firm breasts.

A change was coming over Minnie. She felt as if she had just awakened from a long sleep. The past, drab and uneventful, seemed far, far behind. Now the road before shone brilliant with promise. Strange new dreams and latent ambitions laid hold of her. Her eyes mirroring the surge of her emotions sparkled and grew lustrous.

Al, not conscious of what produced the change, nevertheless saw it.

"You—you're a little beaut, honey, that's just what you are, a little beaut!"

"Oh, Al, if you talk like that I'll run away from you."

"Try it and I'll chase you to Hell and gone. That's the kind of a fellow I am, persistent. Glue's my middle name,