And so on, through
the entire act. By the end of it, Mildred's nerves were
unstrung. She saw the whole game, and realized how
helpless she was. Before the end of that rehearsal,
Mildred had slipped back from promising professional into
clumsy amateur, tolerable only because of the beautiful
freshness of her voice--and it was a question whether
voice alone would save her. Yet no one but Mildred
herself suspected that Ransdell had done it, had
revenged himself, had served notice on her that since she
felt strong enough to stand alone she was to have every
opportunity to do so. He had said nothing disagree-
able; on the contrary, he had been most courteous, most
forbearing.
In the third act she was worse than in the second.
At the end of the rehearsal the others, theretofore
flattering and encouraging, turned away to talk among
themselves and avoided her. Ransdell, about to leave,
said:
``Don't look so down-hearted, Miss Gower. You'll
be all right to-morrow. An off day's nothing.''
He said it loudly enough for the others to hear.
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