The Third ACT

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1913 Excerpt: ... Scene vm THE COMPACT Next day the typewriter that Miss Eckles ordered arrived, and that night Johnny set to work in earnest for the first time since his arrival in town. His days, of course, he spent with Louise--long, happy days they were, to be sure. They walked or rode or drove, or went to teas and luncheons and things; and everywhere Louise introduced him he became popular. For he was just a little different from the average run of young men to be found at afternoon affairs. He learned to talk the small talk of no consequence that the people he met talked. He learned to smoke too many cigarettes and to drink too many highballs. He learned to say the half-daring, wholly personal, and insincere things to women that the other young men said. But he retained through it all his high color and fresh skin and clear eyes; for he had a strong physique, and he slept well and lived much in the open air. Matinee days and at night, while Louise was at theater, Johnny worked in his room. He found relief in doing something. The plays were meeting with such an unenthusiastic reception wherever he offered them that he found comfort in Campbell's praise of the part of the novel already done. The play he had chosen to work on first was the one about the country girl who went to college, and came home to fight the narrow-mindedness and ignorance of her own people. It developed charmingly. The difficulty Johnny found in expressing himself verbally disappeared when he found himself before his typewriter. He had a smooth, flowing style, an aptness at dialogue, a deep sympathy for his characters--and these things made the story much more appealing than it could have been in other hands. Johnny Cauldewell's personality gleamed through his pages--and it was a clean, fresh, whole...