Page:The principal girl (IA principalgirl00snai).pdf/51

 "Only a hundred a week," said Mr. Hollins in the ear of the Chairman of the Syndicate in the box below. "Dirt cheap."

"Sign her for five years at double the salary," said the Chairman of the Syndicate in the ear of the famous manager.

"Nothing like a provincial training," said Mr. Hollins. "Teaches 'em how to get right home to the heart of the people."

"'Core!" roared the Chairman of the Syndicate.

"Absolute nailer," said Uncle Phil.

And then her acting! It was so perfectly easy and natural that it really didn't seem like acting at all. Her speaking voice, for all that it hurt her so, was clear and low and quite agreeable; and wiser men than Uncle Phil have thought that such a voice as that is the greatest charm in any young woman. Not quite so ultra-*refined perhaps as that of the seventh unmarried daughter of not quite a hundred earls; not quite so much torture was inflicted upon the letter "o," that honest vocable. Icy tones had been Adela's that morning in the opinion of the heir to the barony; those of the new-risen star of Blackhampton were clear and unaffected and ringing with human sympathy. No wonder that the sensitive mechanism behind the chocolate waistcoat was thrown clean out of gear.

She acted beautifully that fine scene inside the fire