Blue-grass and Broadway

his protégé, the author of "The Purple Slipper," to her début under the white lights of Broadway, but he could not recall

se eyes, and gray-sprinkled hair, remarked to him after she had whistled the fact of his arrival above. "When such men as you, Mr. Vandeford, begi

eford answered, with his most pleasant smile. Somehow the sight and sound of that executive young woman

tial letters sent us about her, and of course we are looking for

in speaking about his author drew Mr. Vandeford still nearer to her, both i

d, with the greatest deference. And it must be recorded that in making the offer Mr.

e to-night if you and Miss Adair are a little later than midnight in coming home. Remember to give it to her after you

as he would have looked at a decoration handed him by the Metropolitan governors.

lace," and expertly she reefed up the last fold of rose-point that Miss Lindsey had snipped down in a hurried finish

a pleasant evening," she said to them

Vandeford remarked, while he and Valentine were t

as he seated himself beside her while Valentine started the car up the avenue. "Mr. Height said it was

exclaimed out of the sudden rush of anxiety that had overtak

d Miss Adair with a little laugh that had a more distinc

an answering laugh that sounded much too

when I met Mr. Corbett and Mr. Benjamin David and Mr. Height and the other theatrical peo

Go out and scrat

moved a fraction of an inch nearer to him, but he hoped so. "I feel just the same

" questioned

there was that uncertainty as to whether Miss Adair fluttered a fraction of an inch in his direction, and for the life of him Mr. Van

ered before he could stop himself. The habit of speaking out directl

king me now?" asked Miss Ada

for supper. Just a slow, usual sort of an evening, but Denny thought it would be fun for you to see the Big Show a

night," Miss Adair said with the affectionate frankn

d her, and this time the tenderness in his voice surp

aude Adams, but I know he'll put it off a

his system, for Heaven's sake," snapped Mr.

ng doorway of the Big Show. A functionary seven feet tall opened the door of the car and all but literally extra

x in New York. When this eruption occurs many sparks fly. And many sparks from bright eyes were showered on the author of "The Purple Slipper," who sat calmly unaware in the left stage-box of the Big Show that August night beside the notorious Hawtry, Mr. Godfrey Vandeford, and Mr. Dennis Farraday. And of the sparks no one was more conscious than both Miss Hawtry and Mr. Vandeford, while big Dennis was in a blissfully ignorant state of mind like to that o

with enthusiasm that gradually faded into horror as that artist flaunted more and more lingerie and "dished the dirt" which the inebriate playwright, at that moment engaged in "putting pep" into Miss Adair's own beloved "

revealing kick Mazie was allowed to depart and give way to a pa

his left ear was within reach of the whisper of Miss Adair's lips

field and Joe Jefferson and Arliss and the Coburns, up in Louisville,"

ered in return. He had glanced through the program and seen that the climax would be an exhibition of ju

dance that was entirely unobjectionable. In two minutes she had turned her face, beaming with pleasure, so that Mr. Vandefor

peculiar brand of thinking, and reached a diplomatic conclusion. By the intermission, which came just before

going to get a breath

bjection delivered by Miss Hawtry, and he knew that in no way must he seem to be shielding the author of "The Purple Slipper" from the salaciousness that gave M

in plenty of

the loss of his beloved friend. The Violet had soon caught his attitude toward her, and was encouraging his chivalry in every way possible by the most pens

g them see rose-colored for a while," she said with a good-humored smile and a soft

y thanking Vandeford for extracting Miss Adair before she had felt the blighting smirch of the big number. While Mr. Farraday watched the exhibition before him, Mr. Vandeford was amusing the child of their joint solicitude by letting her look at the white lights. While waiting at the curb be

d down Broadway, so that you can come b

choose exactly the panacea to soothe Mi

down past Forty-seventh Street. "Oh, look at the

surprised that he seemed for the first time to feel the actual glory of the electric signs on h

e great scintillating ca?on. She watched as the big car stood motionless before a stream of humanity that poured across its front wheels and then bounded forward as blue-coated arms stemmed the

deford waited, she saw a guardian spinster shoo a bevy of school-girls across in front of the cars, and turn in the middle of the street to reprove a college boy for a laughing word tossed to the combined bevy, while the blue arms on both sidewalks waved her into haste so that they might unleash their restrained monster motors. Everywhere protective men had women's arms fa

and Mr. Vandeford was again surprised at himself that he was not

ill in his own voice, as the enormity of the scene he had w

re," she said softly, and smiled, for again the limousine with the embracing

ng ago. Everybody you see here in this push has his or her vital wi

entucky," Miss Adair

red, and there was a queer sadness in his voice that he did not himself understand. "People wi

Adair, "I want to s

turned and looked her full in her serious eyes. "But if yo

Mazie

be w

urb before the Big Show, which had been out long enough to disperse most of

lipper,'" she announced, as he reached into t

mingled emotions, which

nt clothing. She beamed upon the dancer when, as Mrs. Trevor, she came, at Mr. Farraday's invitation, to have a glass of champagne with them, and she quailed only once, when a band of extremely young girls, clothed in filmy garments, took tiny search-lights and went merrily hunting among the tables of lau

ng at his author or speaking. Once when he had put his hand in his pocket to get out a coin for one of the teasin

ircuited, he went with his calm young author down to the car. The hour was one-thirty, and a moon had climbed the heights of the Broadway ca?on. Valentine, with some sort of psychic direction, went across Cent

dn't want to-to do that," she said with little cat

hey wouldn't go back now,

he door of the big, gloomy, protective building, with the k

old, he put his warm lips to it for a second before he handed her into a great international safety. He remembe

ristian association!" he growled to h

r at the Claridge, engaged in tenderly and awkwardly patting that star's sobbing white shoul

vely, with the art of long practice both on the stage and

It was all he could or was wi

artist." With these words Miss Hawtry made an acknowledgment of the truth that she herself really believed to be untrue, because she saw that to praise Mr. Vandeford was

was the immediate and hoped-for res

laid her flushed cheek in the hollow of good Dennis's big warm hand. The moment was tense, but Hawtry had timed her line a litt

t you?" he asked as he looked down upon her f

to herself, as she ros

men like Dennis Farraday; only none of

eside Mr. Vandeford, and reveled in the excitement, and in the evenings did other revelings. She had her evening with Mr. Height under the spell of Barrie and Maude Adams, and Mr. Vandeford swore under his breath when she reported to him that they

Adair as guests, was like a day's vacation for Mr. Vandeford. Also, he got a complete off-guard picture of Miss Adair as he would

rhododendrons in the West Marsh, and I feel sure that she must have known your mother in some of her visits to Lexington. She must see you a

eford, her shining gray eyes raised to h

of the world were fixed upon him in a speculative way. "The rehearsals

Vandeford by asking the young Westerner with the greatest graciousness. It was evident that the young l

turday evening. I am going to do a monologue stunt to fill in at the Colonial,"

n the rhododendrons." Mrs. Farraday further surprised her son and Mr. Vandeford by giving this c

Lindsey's eyes dim as she accepted the invitation, though she had had hope of a last minute chance to do a little Sunday "stunt" for Keith somewhere in subway New York. And Miss Lindsey needed the money, for a hundred dollars doesn't g

ndeford and Mr. Farraday, as well as Miss Adair, were struck with the sudden beauty that illumined Miss

ed Mr. Vandeford, as they drove up-town in the Sur

Mr. Farraday. "I'm mighty glad sh

e wilds of Westchester and the rhododendrons, while I extract her play from Howar

er's with Miss Lindsey and me for t

eople frolic. Good-night!" With which refusal and taunt Mr. V

k, wabbled the machine first to the right and then to the left, and finally turned down-town, in whic

xchanged through the open door that connected

called to Miss Lindsey. A desperate and continual desire for sleep is the pest that haunts the rural visito

ns as a lady's should, and sew up the opening in the neck of my chiffon blouse an inch and a half, so I won't spill any of M

d's absence was a deprivation to the entire company. And that night their friendly hearts would have ached if they had been able to get a vision

d-oak bed, with both reading-lights turned on full blaze. In his hands was the manuscript of "The Purple Slipper," which Mazie Villines had literall

rd's apartment at about the setting of the Saturday sun. "He's off for a two we

o was listening to the conversation from the hall from which he had ushered Miss Villines into Mr. Vandefor

kinner!" averred the vaudeville

said Mr. Vandeford, with an icy calmness in his voice. And as she spoke he

ur wad loosens," she again laughed, and this time turned tow

that in half a second the manila portfolio was in the hands of Mr. Adolph Mey

ed toward East River as he did last time," Mr. Vandeford said as he handed an a

nd in a twinkling of her bright eyes her good-nature had returned. "Say, that is some play now, and I wish you'd let me play a dance gir

wered Mr. Vandeford. "A song and d

et when times is dull." As Mazie disposed of the check in her stocking, a degree of affectionate anxiety for the condition

lph," she challenged, then laughed, as the imperturbable Mr. Me

ing and annotation for action by Mr. William Rooney, the stage director with the top price, Mr. Vandeford said to Mr. Adolph Meyers, who sat at a tab

rd. Whee-ugh!" With this whistle Mr. Vandeford turned page twenty of the first act and handed it o

he has made, Mr. Vandeford, sir.

ps, cut out seven lines on page fourteen from the second down, and take this from me instead." Mr. Vandeford closed his eyes and dictated a bit of dialogue between two of the minor characters of "The Purple Slipper,"

conciling Mr. Howard's shaky, pen annotations, Mr. Rooney's blue-pencil, action directions, and

. Vandeford, as he with a few deft lines near the close of the second act got the heroin

ss, Mr. Vandeford, sir. Another good play can be written by Miss Ad

own to those girls waiting in the office. Did you get two for all night, so one could get o

Vandeford, sir," answered Mr. Meyers as he gathered up his annotated pages, put them into a ne

ed Mr. Vandeford, as he picked up the second act. "It's just nine o'clock, and those gir

andeford, sir, and night type-writing means much money,

t to 'em," Mr. Vandeford said, as he pi

ttered exchanges. Then, as they came close to the climax of the last act, Mr. Vandeford sat up from his pillow

go with that filthy twist that Howard has given it! The words are al

Mr. Meyers. "But it is for pep very good,

cer or-or the czar of a young ladies' seminary," Mr. V

awtry is at work, and before that all may be dead," Mr. Me

in Mr. Vandeford's office, and that distinguished producer was stretched out on his bed in cool darkness

thing to-morrow, I'll be stronger than I think I am," Mr. Van