After they had gone, she helped the old man on with his coat and they started out toward the stage door. On the way, he hesitated and, leaving her, walked slowly onto the center of the stage again. The curtain was raised now on an empty house, the stage lighted only by a single spotlight from above.
He stood there for several minutes, his head held proudly as he stared out at the vacant seats, as if he were remembering the applause of all the audiences before whom he had played.
After a moment, he left the stage and came back to her. "An old man's whim," he explained.
"It's too bad to leave it all," she said.
With a gentle smile, he corrected her. "I'm not leaving it," he said. "It will be with me wherever I go."
She watched as the taxi carried him out of sight along the wintry street. Then she went back inside to finish packing the things still left in the dressing room.
Hugh Deering came to the door. "Nearly everyone's gone," he said. "They'll be waiting for us at the party."
Somehow, she didn't feel like going. But she knew they wouldn't understand if she didn't. Bending over her packing, she said, "I won't be long."
Suddenly Hugh turned and looked out into the hall. "What was that?"
Sensing his alarm, she went to the door. "What?"
"Sounded like a groan. Then someone falling."
In a flash, it came to her. Charles Victor! "In there," she said. "The opposite dressing room!"
When they opened the door, they found the little character actor stretched out on the floor, dressed for the street. Hugh knelt by him and with expert speed turned him over on his back and ripped open his shirt.
"The pills!" he shouted at her. "Where are they?"
Shirley made a frantic search of the shelf and make-up box, but they weren't there. She knelt by Hugh. "In his pockets. It's the only other place."
The young ex-doctor raised his head from the character actor's chest, and his expression was grim. "No use now. They wouldn't do any good."
"Hugh! There must be something!" She stared at him in panic.
"Call an ambulance," he said. "Get the doorman to phone."
"It will take too long!" she cried. Then, remembering, "Hugh, I have some adrenalin in the dressing room."
His eyes met hers. "It's a big chance! But we can't hurt him any now. I have a heart needle in my bag. Get the adrenalin."
She ran to her dressing room for the adrenalin while he went for the heart needle. When they met in the corridor, he said, "We need some alcohol. I don't have time to disinfect this thing."
By the time she was back with the alcohol, he was ready to make the adrenalin injection. Quickly she swabbed Charles Victor's exposed chest and then, with a sure movement, Hugh plunged the needle in.
Then came moments of dread waiting. Hugh placed his ear on the actor's chest. Shirley was praying, but she did so automatically, with no real knowledge of the thoughts racing through her mind.
After what seemed hours, Hugh raised his head and on his face there was an expression of hope. "His heart's beating again," he said quietly. "Faintly—but it's beating. Check on the ambulance."
Fifteen minutes later, they stood in the stage-door entrance as the ambulance drove off with Charles Victor. They waited under the light a moment, staring after it.
Shirley turned to Hugh. "Should we have gone along?"
"Nothing we could do. He's in good hands. I'd say he'll make it."
Her eyes looked into his. "As a doctor?"
His expression became serious. "About that—"
She interrupted him. "I don't care what you say! You did a wonderful thing!"
Taking her by the arms, he said, "I didn't intend to tell you just yet. But I didn't expect this to happen. I saw my doctor friend at Memorial. He's found a spot for me on their staff."
"Hugh!"
He gave a wry smile. "That doesn't mean I'm really sure that I'll stay with being a doctor again. But I am going to try."
"That's all that matters," she told him softly.
"It means something to you?"
"It means everything to me!"
"Why?" he asked.
Emotion filled her throat and her eyes became bright with tears. "It seems I'm awfully stupid. I love you, darling."
He drew her close to him and kissed her, a long, tender kiss. The stage-door light under which they stood, and which had also cast a glow on a colored poster advertising The Cardinal on the wall beside them, was suddenly turned off.
Arms linked, they walked slowly along the snow-covered street in the direction of the Royalton Hotel, leaving the darkened theater behind them.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
Backstage Nurse Page 14
