Telford looked on the point of collapse. Someone gently propelled a chair towards him, on which he sank gazing round him stupidly.
Suddenly Florrie gave a wild hysterical shriek and fell. For a moment her limbs twitched spasmodically, then she lay very still. She had fainted. Several of the girls ran forward and began fumbling about with the fastenings of her clothes. They removed her hat and veil, and one of them uttered a cry of surprise.
Suddenly Florrie sat up, and those about her, as if impelled by their instinct for the dramatic, stood aside that Telford could see her.
"Please Mr. Telford," she said smiling, and in her natural voice, "won’t you give me a trial in the part of Jenny Burrow."
Telford stared as a drunken man might who had been roused by the glare of a policeman’s lantern.
The company looked first at the girl, then at Telford, then at each other. Telford drew a deep sigh.
A babel of conversation and chatter broke out. Telford gazed at Elsie Gwyn as if fascinated.
A hush fell over the stage. It was Elsie Gwyn who spoke. "I asked Mr. Telford to give me a trial as Jenny Burrow. He said that I was not sufficiently experienced and could not create such a part. I thought I could. Of course what I have just said was all——"
"Fudge and Florrie," broke in Walters, as if to reassert his claims as a comedian.
"Exactly, Mr. Walters. You’ll forgive me, won’t you?"
"Sure, girl," he said genially. "There’s no one here who’ll ever want to quarrel with you after to-day," he added, at which there was a laugh.
"Now, Mr. Telford," said Elsie, "can I or can I not play the part of Jenny Burrow?"
"Play it, girl, I should think you could," cried Telford, jumping up from the chair. "But you’ve given me the fright of my life. Come along upstairs and we’ll sign a contract."
The two left the stage together, and the company trooped out after them, knowing that rehearsal was over for that day.
Roger Telford was a sportsman, and too happy at the termination of his nightmare to bear malice. He was delighted to find that his luck had not failed him, and that he had found an actress capable of creating the part that he had found such difficulty in casting.
"She knew some fancy words," was Bindle’s comment. "She ought to get on."