The man he took to be Packer lifted his hat and spoke to a girl who
was sitting at a table and drinking soda-water, but when she looked
up and seemed to be Wanda Malone with a blue veil down to her nose,
Canby turned on his heel, face-about, and headed violently for
home.
When he reached quieter streets his gait slackened, and he
walked slowly, lost in deep reverie. By and by he came to a
halt, and stood still for several minutes without knowing it.
Slowly he came out of the trance, wondering where he was. Then
he realized that his staring eyes had halted him automatically;
and as they finally conveyed their information to his conscious
mind, he perceived that he was standing directly in front of a
saloon, and glaring at the sign upon the window:
ALES WINES LIQUORS AND CIGARS
TIM MALONE
At that, somewhere in his inside, he cried out, in a kind of
anguish: "Isn't there anything--anywhere--any more--except Wanda
Malone!"
IX
"Second act, ladies and gentlemen!" cried Packer, at precisely
ten o'clock the next morning.
About a dozen actors were chatting in small groups upon the
stage; three or four paced singly, muttering and mildly
gesticulating, with the fretful preoccupation of people trying
to remember; two or three, seated, bent over their typewritten
"sides," studying intently; and a few, invisible from the
auditorium, were scattered about the rearward rooms and
passageways.
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