The gross was $359. The instant that fact became
known to Mr. Rushcroft he informed Barnes that they had a "knockout,"
a gold mine, and that never in all his career had he known a season to
start off so auspiciously as this one.
"It's good for forty weeks solid," he exclaimed. Both Barnes and the
wide-eyed Countess became infused with the spirit of jubilation that
filled the souls of these time-worn, hand-to-mouth stragglers. They
rejoiced with them in their sudden elevation to happiness, and
overlooked the vain-glorious claims of each individual in the matter
of personal achievement. Even the bewildered Tilly bleated out her
little cry for distinction.
"Did you hear them laugh at the way I got off my speech?" she cried
excitedly.
"I certainly did," said Mr. Bacon amiably. "By gad, I laughed at it
myself."
"Parquet $217.50, dress circle $105, gallery $36.50," announced Tommy
Gray, as he donned his wig and false beard for the third act. "Sixty-
forty gives us $215.40 on the night. Thank God, we won't have to worry
about the sheriff this week."
In Miss Thackeray's dressing-room that level-headed young woman broke
down and wept like a child.
"Oh, Lord," she stuttered, "is it possible that we're going to stay
above water at last? I thought we had gone down for the last time, and
here we are bobbing up again as full of ginger as if we'd never hit
the bottom.
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