“Don’t let it worry you.” A quick flush rose to the stout girl’s plump cheeks. “Watch your own step. I mean that in good part, Steve.”
“_Thank you_,” came the disdainful retort. “I _hope_ I am capable of managing my own affairs.”
“I hope so, too,” Laura returned with a gravity of tone that made Stephanie feel vaguely uncomfortable.
Three days later she wrote Leila a formal note containing her acceptance of the Shakespearean part. Rather to her disappointment, Leila promptly responded with an equally formal note of thanks, and a brief request that she report at the theatre at one o’clock the following Saturday afternoon for a reading of the drama to be later enacted. Stephanie had hoped that Leila would again come to her room, having decided upon a certain lofty pose which she intended to assume during the call. She was also desirous of learning whether Miss Ogden had been included in the cast, an inclusion against which she had determined politely to protest. She had resolved to make life miserable for the offending freshman to the point of driving her from Hamilton College, provided she could accomplish such a revenge. If she could not, it would not be from lack of trying. A pampered only child, Stephanie had grown to young womanhood with a fixed idea of her own importance. Nor was anyone permitted long to stand in her way, whom she could succeed in ousting from it.
Her attendance of the reading of the play at the Playhouse on the following Saturday afternoon revealed to her the not unwelcome fact that Miss Ogden was missing from the cast. It would save her the necessity of a protest, which, she had sulkily reflected, might have reacted to her disadvantage. She was full of secret satisfaction over the good fortune that had visited her, vanity prompting her to repudiate Laura’s blunt surmise of how it had come about.
The swift passing of the autumn days found her strictly upon her most gracious behavior toward Leila, Vera and the other members of the cast. Leslie she could not endure. Fortunately for her she seldom came into contact with the busy, reserved manager. Leslie had become everything to the charming little theatre from manager to property man. While Leila directed and rehearsed the actors with unfailing patience and good nature, Leslie was frequently a silent observer at rehearsals. Seated far back in the auditorium little that went on on the stage escaped her critical eyes.