ill be in line by that time." With which significant order Mr. Godfrey Vandeford turned from the anxious Mr. Meyers to answer the tinkling telephone at his elbow. In a second he was speaking to the most eminent stage director on Broadway.

. . . . . .

"Yes, this is Godfrey Vandeford, Bill."

. . . . . .

"Yes. Called to know if you would like to stage a little show for me right away."

. . . . . .

"Yes. I'm going to give Hawtry a little canter before 'The Rosie Posie Girl.' New[73] line for her, and doubtful. Like to take hold for a pittance?"

. . . . . .

"Oh, yes, that three hundred a week for the 'Posie Girl' goes, of course, but this play is just a Hawtry whim that I have got to let her get out of her system. One hundred a week is my limit, and you ought to do it for seventy-five. You can sit in your chair all the time for all I care."

. . . . . .

"Now you get me—a hundred it is. Let her have her head and work off steam before we start 'The Rosie Posie.' Yes, Willings is doing the Rosie songs for us. They'll be hot stuff."

. . . . . .

"Yes, Corbett's making sketches for 'The Rosie Posie' scenery now. We'll start 'The Purple Slipper' on Monday. Yes, that's its blooming name. By!"

---

"Is it William Rooney to stage 'The Purple Slipper'?" asked Mr. Meyers, with a[74] shrug of his narrow shoulders as he began pecking out on his machine the notes that were to guide his chief in picking the artists who were to embody the characters in the play founded on the life romance of that old grandame Madam Patricia Adair of colonial Kentucky.

"Why do you reckon Samuel Goldstein likes to build up a reputation for himself on Broadway by the name of William Rooney, Pops?