She came to a sudden pause, perceiving in the frank gray eyes scanning
her animated face a look which caused her own to droop. Then her lips
set in firmer resolution, and she continued as though in utter
indifference to his presence.
"You may not comprehend all this, but I do. It was the turning-point
in my life. And I began right where I was. I endeavored to make the
utmost possible out of that miserable melodramatic part which had been
assigned to me. I elected to play it quietly, with an intensity to be
felt and not heard, the very opposite from the interpretation given by
Miss Lyle last season, and I felt assured my efforts were appreciated
by the audiences. It encouraged me to discover them so responsive; but
Albrecht, Lane, and Mooney merely laughed and winked at each other, and
thus hurt me cruelly, although I had little respect for their
criticisms. Still, they were professional actors of experience, and I
was not yet certain that my judgment might not be wrong. Miss Head,
the ingénue, a girl of sweet disposition but little education,
praised my efforts warmly, but otherwise your evident appreciation is
my only real reward. I spoke to you that evening in the wings not so
much to scold you for being in the way, as from a hungry, despairing
hope that you might speak some word of encouragement. I was not
disappointed, and I have felt stronger ever since."
"I should never have suspected any such purpose. We have never so much
as exchanged speech since, until to-day, and then I forced it."
She shook her head, a vagrant tress of her black hair loosening.
"You must be a very young and inexperienced man to expect to comprehend
all that any woman feels merely by what she says or does."
"No," smilingly, "I have advanced beyond that stage of development,
although the mystery of some womanly natures may always remain beyond
me. But can I ask you a somewhat personal question, also?"
"Most assuredly, yet I expressly reserve the privilege of refusing a
direct reply."
"Is Beth Norvell your real, or merely your stage name?"
"Why do you ask? That is a secret which, I believe, an actress is
privileged to keep inviolate."
"For one particular reason--because I cannot escape a vague impression
that somewhere we have met before."
She did not respond immediately, her gloved fingers perceptibly
tightening about the prayer-book, her eyes carefully avoiding his own.
"You are mistaken in that, for we have never met," she said slowly, and
with emphasis. "Moreover, Beth Norvell is my stage name, but in part
it is my true name also." Suddenly she paused and glanced aside at
him. "I have spoken with unusual frankness to you this morning, Mr.
Winston. Most people, I imagine, find me diffident and
uncommunicative--perhaps I appear according to my varying moods. But I
have been lonely, and in some way you have inspired my confidence and
unlocked my life. I believe you to be a man worthy of trust, and
because I thus believe I am now going to request you not to ask me any
more. My past life has not been so bright that I enjoy dwelling upon
it. I have chosen rather to forget it entirely, and live merely for
the future."