every soul aquiver with that brooding sense of the ominous which sheds itself over the spirits of a theatrical company upon a first night.
Parks, with a final touch to his hair and a sidewise squint at himself, turned and went out. The footsteps and voices in the corridor grew fainter and then came trailing back from the stairway like a chatterbox recessional.
It was quiet in the dressing rooms, except for a droning from across the way, and John knew what that was; for the sweet little ingénue had told him in a moment of confidence: "On first nights I always go down on my knees before I leave my dressing room." There she was now, telling her beads.
"Shall I pray, too?" he asked, and then answered resolutely, "No! Let's wait and see what God'll do to me."
His throat was arid. His lips, from the drying spirit gum and the excess of grease paint, were stiff and unresponsive.
"Eternal Hammering is the Price of Success," he muttered thickly, trying to brace himself. "Now for a great big swing with the hammer." But his spirits sagged unaccountably, and he turned out into the corridor as if for a death march.
At this moment the area between the foot of the stairs and the wings of the stage was a weaving mass of idling scene-shifters, hurrying, nervous, property men, and a horde of supernumeraries made up as American sailors, Spanish soldiers, and Cuban natives. All was movement and confusion.
The principals had drifted to their entrances and taken position in the order in which they would appear; but they too were restless; nobody stood quite still; at every movement, at every loud word, everybody turned or looked or
