Page:Willa Cather - The Song of the Lark.djvu/453

 Archie, who usually felt that it behooved him to be silent during such discussions, was encouraged by her geniality to venture, "I don 't see how you can learn anything in such a turmoil; or how you can keep your mind on it, for that matter."

Thea glanced about the room and suddenly put her hand up to her hair. "Mercy, I 've no hat on! Why did n't you tell me? And I seem to be wearing a rumpled dinner dress, with all this paint on my face! I must look like something you picked up on Second Avenue. I hope there are no Colorado reformers about, Dr. Archie. What a dreadful old pair these people must be thinking you! Well, I had to eat." She sniffed the savor of the grill as the waiter uncovered it. "Yes, draught beer, please. No, thank you, Fred, no champagne.—To go back to your question, Dr. Archie, you can believe I keep my mind on it. That 's the whole trick, in so far as stage experience goes; keeping right there every second. If I think of anything else for a flash, I 'm gone, done for. But at the same time, one can take things in—with another part of your brain, maybe. It 's different from what you get in study, more practical and conclusive. There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm. You learn the delivery of a part only before an audience."

"Heaven help us," gasped Ottenburg. "Were n't you hungry, though! It 's beautiful to see you eat."

"Glad you like it. Of course I 'm hungry. Are you staying over for Rheingold Friday afternoon?"

"My dear Thea,"—Fred lit a cigarette,—"I 'm a serious business man now. I have to sell beer. I 'm due in Chicago on Wednesday. I 'd come back to hear you, but Fricka is not an alluring part."

"Then you 've never heard it well done." She spoke up hotly. "Fat German woman scolding her husband, eh? That 's not my idea. Wait till you hear my Fricka. It 's a beautiful part." Thea leaned forward on the table and