Marion Marlowe's Triumph, or, In Spite of Her Enemies — page 18: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

16 manager calling him, but he pretended not to hear; he could not face him. Miss Lemadrid’s carriage was standing at the stage door, and as Gordon passed it a wo- man's face appeared at the window. “Hello, Gordon!” called Rita Esmonde, in her vulgar manner. ‘I’m waiting for Le- madrid. Can't you stop and talk a minute ?” “I’m in an awful hurry; please excuse me,” said Gordon, ‘quickly; but the woman's head only protruded a little further. “Hold on, Gordon! You must stop! There's something I want to say,” she urged, persistently. Ed Gordon frowned, but came back to the carriage. “What is it, Rita? Some gossip, I sup- pose! If you knew how [I hate it you wouldn't bother me with it!” : “But this concerns you especially, so you ought to know it,” she said, softly; then she sank her coarse voice to almost a whisper. “Vera is fooling you, Gordon, wouldn’t be vour friend if 1 didn’t tell you! If you are anxious to shake the girl, come to my house whenever I send for you, and Ill let vou see for yourself what the little minx is doing.” Ed Gordon stared at her for about a min- ute, and a scornful look overspread his tea- tures. Twenty-four hours ago he would not have cared a picayune about what Vera was doing, but now—well, he would be glad to be rid of the girl; but he would have been far gladder if he still had faith in Miss Marlowe. He drew himself up and shrugged his shoulders disdainfully. The rest of the company were coming out now, and Le- madrid would be ready for her carriage in a minute. “A woman's loyalty to her sister woman is something marvelous,” he said, sneeringly. “You eall Vera your friend, and yet you are ready to betray her! No! I am no spy, Rita! T wort watch the girl. If she is happy with some one else, [ am truly delight- ed.’ ut don’t vou want the proof?” asked the entirely unabashed woman, quickly. “You can’t accuse her of anything that you can't MY QUEEN. and I[- - own life tragedies. cre +1 ‘Ss ae Py = ) j BS prove, Ed, and you'd better not try ; you know her temper.” Soe “But I refuse to spy upon her,” said the ae actor again. “If I could find out hon orably, a that would be different.” oe ees = “See here, Gordon,” said the woma , put- *. ting her face almost up to his own. “You $. are a fool if you don’t come, and that is all there is about it, and, besides, Miss Marlowe will be there! Isn’t that an induceme it?” e Ed Gordon started back as if she had — struck him., = “What! Marion Marlowe at your house!” _ he said, indignantly. Then again, the feel- “i ing that he had been a fool sprang up within | him. (ices —_ “Well, why not, I should like to ann asked the woman, with a show of indigna- — tion. “Is my house so bad that Marion yee | lowe cannot enter it? A girl who actually — ps makes love to men the first time she meets them !” 3 a : and eae fe +? Ed Gordon turned on his heel and rushed away from the carriage. He was almost overcome by the violence of his feelings. , The next minute Miss Lemadrid came out | of the stage door. She was walking close to : Vera Villette, and both were whispering — softly. : Marion Marlowe was just behind, walking with Nona Nelson. She had been introduced to Miss Lemadrid, and found her delightful. “However talented these three women were when standing before the footlights, they — were certainly all clever actresses in their + “ae oa They had smiled and chatted with Marion — as though they almost loved her, while all of the three were secretly planning to injure her. Marion had kept her conversation with the manager a secret from them all, and she did not even dream that Miss Lemadrid had overheard it. For reasons of her own the “star” did not repeat what she had heard. She hoped to nip the whole thing in the bud, without so much as a rumor being started. 2 “Then that is settled, Vera,” she whispered, “ stopping a little way from the carriage. “Vou will see Hale to-night or to-morrow, ‘a and you can depend upon him to carry out sa —— EGomicbooks