But
--it is to Mr. Ransdell that my failure is due.''
``My dear Miss Gower,'' said Crossley, polite but
cold, ``I regret hearing you say that. The fact is
very different. Not until you had done so--so
unacceptably at several rehearsals that news of it reached
me by another way--not until I myself went to Mr.
Ransdell about you did he admit that there could be a
possibility of a doubt of your succeeding. I had to go
to rehearsal myself and directly order him to restore
Miss Esmond and lay you off.''
Mildred was not unprepared. She received this
tranquilly. ``Mr. Ransdell is a very clever man,'' said she
with perfect good humor. ``I've no hope of convincing
you, but I must tell my side.''
And clearly and simply, with no concealments through
fear of disturbing his high ideal of her ladylike deli-
cacy, she told him the story. He listened, seated well
back in his tilted desk-chair, his gaze upon the ceiling.
When she finished he held his pose a moment, then got
up and paced the length of the office several times, his
hands in his pockets.
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