"As you please," she said quietly, "but I shall not play Ida Somers to
Mr. Mooney's Ralph Wilde. I told you as much plainly before we left
Denver, and it was for that special reason the 'Heart of the World' was
substituted. The more I have seen of Mr. Mooney since we took the
road, the less I am inclined to yield in this matter."
Albrecht laughed coarsely, his face reddening.
"Oh, bah!" he exclaimed, gruffly derisive. "Ven you begome star then
you can have dem tantrums, but not now, not mit me. You blay vat I
say, or I send back after some von else. You bedder not get too gay,
or you lose your job damn quick. You don't vant Mooney to make lofe to
you? You don't vant him to giss you?--hey, vos dot it?"
"Yes, that was exactly it."
"Ach!--you too nice to be brofessional; you like to choose your lofer,
hey? You forget you earn a livin' so. Vot you got against Mooney?"
Miss Norvell, her cheeks burning indignantly, her eyes already ablaze,
did not mince words.
"Nothing personally just so long as he keeps away from me," she
retorted clearly. "He is coarse, vulgar, boorish, and I have far too
much respect for myself to permit such a man to touch me, either upon
the stage or off; to have him kiss me would be an unbearable insult."
Albrecht, totally unable to comprehend the feelings of the girl,
shifted uneasily beneath the sharp sting of her words, yet continued to
smile idiotically.
"Dot is very nice, quite melodramatic, but it is not brofessional,
Meess," he stammered, striving to get hold of some satisfactory
argument. "Vy, Mooney vos not so pad. Meess Lyle she act dot bart mit
him all der last season, and make no kick. Dunder! vat you vant--an
angel? You don't hafe to take dot bart mit me, or Meester Lane either,
don 't it, hey?"
Miss Norvell turned contemptuously away from him, her face white with
determination.
"If you really want to know, there is only one man in all your troupe I
would consent to play it with," she declared calmly.
"Und dot is?"
"I do not even know his name," and she turned her head just
sufficiently to look directly into Albrecht's surprised face; "but I
refer to your new utility man; he, at least, possesses some of the
ordinary attributes of a gentleman."
The door of her dressing-room opened and closed, leaving the startled
manager standing alone without, gasping for breath, his thick lips
gurgling impotent curses, while Winston discreetly drew farther back
amid the intricacy of scenery.