Page:Stringer - Wine of Life.djvu/363

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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

IF Storrow wrung any satisfaction out of his open declaration of opposition to Krassler, that satisfac- tion was not an enduring one. He realized, as he thought things over, that his words had been big and that his ability to translate them into action was limited. And as Krassler himself, apparently sharing in that re- alization, withdrew with the promptness of a lawyer's clerk who has served his subpoena, Storrow was not with- out the disturbing consciousness of beholding what had seemed a highly dramatic situation wither away into nothingness.

Yet there were other things which disturbed him even more. One of these was the discovery that Pannie At- will might still again appear in the drama of his life, a painted Columbine with the dignifying attributes of a Greek Chorus. It seemed, on the whole, expedient that he should see Pannie. So without further loss of time he began making inquiries and soon found that she was holding forth in a musical-comedy entitled The Princess of Pecos, recognized as one of the Broadway successes of the season.

Storrow, when he applied at the stage-entrance of her theatre, found Pannie too preoccupied with costume and make-up to waste valuable time in talk.

" Say, it'd be like sleepin in a nest o' copperheads, tryin' to talk private in this bunch o' bone-heads," Pannie promptly informed him. " Come round after the show and steer me over to Barney's, where we can sit in com- fort. And if you've gotta kill time, why don't you get a

look in at this piece? Skip round front and grab a seat

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