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company, and I went with him, and now and then I took a small part. I must say he only did it when he was very hard up, and the companies were not very grand, and we played in all kinds of out-of-the-way halls and theatres—at little up-country diggings, and so on. But it was experience for me, and I got on very well.” She saw that this was rather a blow to her companion, and to soften it she went on talking—

“Amateurs always think that anyone can do the small parts. That’s such a mistake. The big parts are comparatively easy—they are all chalked out for you; but the little side-characters are a blank sheet, and you have to make your own sketch. However, they all said I managed it very well. So now I’ve made a beginning, you see, and I don’t think there is any way out of it.”

Campbell got up hastily and walked away to the other end of the room, where the window was open. A storm was brewing out at sea, and the wind began to rise, and rattled the big leaves of the bananas and palms in the garden, and drew out a creepy sort of rustling, like a ghostly flock of mice running over the walls, from the ropy vines and creepers that clothed the roof. He came back to Alice, who was rather sadly looking down, and playing a funereal little tune