"But, no!" protested the director, throwing up his hands. "She is
impossible. A cork on ze water! A leaf in ze wind! I cannot teach her. I
vill not try!"
"It's too late to get anybody else for to-night," said Reeser,
impatiently. "Let her walk through the part, and we'll see what can be
done in the morning." Then seeing Nance's indignant eyes on the director,
he added with a comical twist of his big mouth, "Want to be a bear?"
"Sure!" said Nance, with spirit, "if the Dago can't teach me to dance,
maybe he can teach me to growl."
The joke was lost upon the director, but it put Reeser into such a good
humor that he sent her down to the dressing-room to try on the costume.
Ten minutes later, a little bear, awkward but ecstatic, scrambled madly
up the steps, and an excited voice called out:
"Look, Mr. Reeser, it fits! it fits!"
For the rest of the morning Nance practised her part, getting used to
the clumsy suit of fur, learning to adjust her mask so that she could
see through the little, round, animal eyes, and keeping the other girls
in a titter of amusement over her surreptitious imitation of the
irascible Pulatki.
When the rehearsal was over there was much good-natured hustling and
raillery as the girls changed into their street costumes. At Birdie's
invitation Nance went with her to the rooming-house around the corner,
where you had to ring a bell to get in, a convention which in itself
spelt elegance, and up one flight, two flights, three flights of
carpeted steps to a front-hall bedroom on the fourth floor.
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