Chapter: Installed in her comfortable room, Carrie wondered how Hurstwood had
taken her departure. She arranged a few things hastily and then left for
the theatre, half expecting to encounter him at the door. Not finding
him, her dread lifted, and she felt more kindly toward him. She quite
forgot him until about to come out, after the show, when the chance of
his being there frightened her. As day after day passed and she heard
nothing at all, the thought of being bothered by him passed. In a little
while she was, except for occasional thoughts, wholly free of the gloom
with which her life had been weighed in the flat.

It is curious to note how quickly a profession absorbs one. Carrie
became wise in theatrical lore, hearing the gossip of little Lola. She
learned what the theatrical papers were, which ones published items
about actresses and the like. She began to read the newspaper notices,
not only of the opera in which she had so small a part, but of others.
Gradually the desire for notice took hold of her. She longed to be
renowned like others, and read with avidity all the complimentary or
critical comments made concerning others high in her profession. The
showy world in which her interest lay completely absorbed her.

It was about this time that the newspapers and magazines were beginning
to pay that illustrative attention to the beauties of the stage which
has since become fervid. The newspapers, and particularly the Sunday
newspapers, indulged in large decorative theatrical pages, in which the
faces and forms of well-known theatrical celebrities appeared, enclosed
with artistic scrolls. The magazines also or at least one or two of the
newer ones--published occasional portraits of pretty stars, and now and
again photos of scenes from various plays. Carrie watched these with
growing interest. When would a scene from her opera appear? When would
some paper think her photo worth while?

The Sunday before taking her new part she scanned the theatrical pages
for some little notice. It would have accorded with her expectations if
nothing had been said, but there in the squibs, tailing off several
more substantial items, was a wee notice. Carrie read it with a tingling
body:


"The part of Katisha, the country maid, in 'The Wives of Abdul' at the
Broadway, heretofore played by Inez Carew, will be hereafter filled by
Carrie Madenda, one of the cleverest members of the chorus."


Carrie hugged herself with delight. Oh, wasn't it just fine! At last!
The first, the long-hoped for, the delightful notice! And they called
her clever. She could hardly restrain herself from laughing loudly. Had
Lola seen it?

"They've got a notice here of the part I'm going to play to-morrow
night," said Carrie to her friend.

"Oh, jolly! Have they?" cried Lola, running to her. "That's all right,"
she said, looking. "You'll get more now, if you do well. I had my
picture in the 'World' once."

"Did you?" asked Carrie.

"Did I? Well, I should say," returned the little girl. "They had a frame
around it."

Carrie laughed.

"They've never published my picture."

"But they will," said Lola. "You'll see. You do better than most that
get theirs in now."

Carrie felt deeply grateful for this. She almost loved Lola for the
sympathy and praise she extended. It was so helpful to her--so almost
necessary.

Fulfilling her part capably brought another notice in the papers that
she was doing her work acceptably. This pleased her immensely. She began
to think the world was taking note of her.

The first week she got her thirty-five dollars, it seemed an enormous
sum. Paying only three dollars for room rent seemed ridiculous. After
giving Lola her twenty-five, she still had seven dollars left. With four
left over from previous earnings, she had eleven. Five of this went to
pay the regular installment on the clothes she had to buy. The next week
she was even in greater feather. Now, only three dollars need be paid
for room rent and five on her clothes. The rest she had for food and her
own whims.

"You'd better save a little for summer," cautioned Lola. "We'll probably
close in May."

"I intend to," said Carrie.

The regular entrance of thirty-five dollars a week to one who has
endured scant allowances for several years is a demoralising thing.
Carrie found her purse bursting with good green bills of comfortable
denominations. Having no one dependent upon her, she began to buy pretty
clothes and pleasing trinkets, to eat well, and to ornament her room.
Friends were not long in gathering about. She met a few young men who
belonged to Lola's staff. The members of the opera company made her
acquaintance without the formality of introduction. One of these
discovered a fancy for her. On several occasions he strolled home with
her.

"Let's stop in and have a rarebit," he suggested one midnight.

"Very well," said Carrie.

In the rosy restaurant, filled with the merry lovers of late hours,
she found herself criticising this man. He was too stilted, too
self-opinionated. He did not talk of anything that lifted her above the
common run of clothes and material success. When it was all over, he
smiled most graciously.

"Got to go straight home, have you?" he said.

"Yes," she answered, with an air of quiet understanding.

"She's not so inexperienced as she looks," he thought, and thereafter
his respect and ardour were increased.

She could not help sharing in Lola's love for a good time. There were
days when they went carriage riding, nights when after the show they
dined, afternoons when they strolled along Broadway, tastefully dressed.
She was getting in the metropolitan whirl of pleasure.

At last her picture appeared in one of the weeklies. She had not known
of it, and it took her breath. "Miss Carrie Madenda," it was labelled.
"One of the favourites of 'The Wives of Abdul' company." At Lola's
advice she had had some pictures taken by Sarony. They had got one
there. She thought of going down and buying a few copies of the paper,
but remembered that there was no one she knew well enough to send them
to. Only Lola, apparently, in all the world was interested.

The metropolis is a cold place socially, and Carrie soon found that a
little money brought her nothing. The world of wealth and distinction
was quite as far away as ever. She could feel that there was no warm,
sympathetic friendship back of the easy merriment with which many
approached her. All seemed to be seeking their own amusement, regardless
of the possible sad consequence to others. So much for the lessons of
Hurstwood and Drouet.

In April she learned that the opera would probably last until the middle
or the end of May, according to the size of the audiences. Next season
it would go on the road. She wondered if she would be with it. As usual,
Miss Osborne, owing to her moderate salary, was for securing a home
engagement.

"They're putting on a summer play at the Casino," she announced, after
figuratively putting her ear to the ground. "Let's try and get in that."

"I'm willing," said Carrie.

They tried in time and were apprised of the proper date to apply again.
That was May 16th. Meanwhile their own show closed May 5th.

"Those that want to go with the show next season," said the manager,
"will have to sign this week."

"Don't you sign," advised Lola. "I wouldn't go."

"I know," said Carrie, "but maybe I can't get anything else."

"Well, I won't," said the little girl, who had a resource in her
admirers. "I went once and I didn't have anything at the end of the
season."

Carrie thought this over. She had never been on the road.

"We can get along," added Lola. "I always have."

Carrie did not sign.

The manager who was putting on the summer skit at the Casino had never
heard of Carrie, but the several notices she had received, her published
picture, and the programme bearing her name had some little weight with
him. He gave her a silent part at thirty dollars a week.

"Didn't I tell you?" said Lola. "It doesn't do you any good to go away
from New York. They forget all about you if you do."

Now, because Carrie was pretty, the gentlemen who made up the advance
illustrations of shows about to appear for the Sunday papers selected
Carrie's photo along with others to illustrate the announcement. Because
she was very pretty, they gave it excellent space and drew scrolls about
it. Carrie was delighted. Still, the management did not seem to have
seen anything of it. At least, no more attention was paid to her than
before. At the same time there seemed very little in her part. It
consisted of standing around in all sorts of scenes, a silent little
Quakeress. The author of the skit had fancied that a great deal could be
made of such a part, given to the right actress, but now, since it had
been doled out to Carrie, he would as leave have had it cut out.

"Don't kick, old man," remarked the manager. "If it don't go the first
week we will cut it out."

Carrie had no warning of this halcyon intention. She practised her
part ruefully, feeling that she was effectually shelved. At the dress
rehearsal she was disconsolate.

"That isn't so bad," said the author, the manager noting the curious
effect which Carrie's blues had upon the part. "Tell her to frown a
little more when Sparks dances."

Carrie did not know it, but there was the least show of wrinkles between
her eyes and her mouth was puckered quaintly.

"Frown a little more, Miss Madenda," said the stage manager.

Carrie instantly brightened up, thinking he had meant it as a rebuke.

"No; frown," he said. "Frown as you did before."

Carrie looked at him in astonishment.

"I mean it," he said. "Frown hard when Mr. Sparks dances. I want to see
how it looks."

It was easy enough to do. Carrie scowled. The effect was something so
quaint and droll it caught even the manager.

"That is good," he said. "If she'll do that all through, I think it will
take."

Going over to Carrie, he said:

"Suppose you try frowning all through. Do it hard. Look mad. It'll make
the part really funny."

On the opening night it looked to Carrie as if there were nothing to her
part, after all. The happy, sweltering audience did not seem to see her
in the first act. She frowned and frowned, but to no effect. Eyes were
riveted upon the more elaborate efforts of the stars.

In the second act, the crowd, wearied by a dull conversation, roved with
its eyes about the stage and sighted her. There she was, grey-suited,
sweet-faced, demure, but scowling. At first the general idea was that
she was temporarily irritated, that the look was genuine and not fun at
all. As she went on frowning, looking now at one principal and now at
the other, the audience began to smile. The portly gentlemen in the
front rows began to feel that she was a delicious little morsel. It was
the kind of frown they would have loved to force away with kisses. All
the gentlemen yearned toward her. She was capital.

At last, the chief comedian, singing in the centre of the stage, noticed
a giggle where it was not expected. Then another and another. When the
place came for loud applause it was only moderate. What could be the
trouble? He realised that something was up.

All at once, after an exit, he caught sight of Carrie. She was frowning
alone on the stage and the audience was giggling and laughing.

"By George, I won't stand that!" thought the thespian. "I'm not going to
have my work cut up by some one else. Either she quits that when I do my
turn or I quit."

"Why, that's all right," said the manager, when the kick came. "That's
what she's supposed to do. You needn't pay any attention to that."

"But she ruins my work."

"No, she don't," returned the former, soothingly. "It's only a little
fun on the side."

"It is, eh?" exclaimed the big comedian. "She killed my hand all right.
I'm not going to stand that."

"Well, wait until after the show. Wait until to-morrow. We'll see what
we can do."

The next act, however, settled what was to be done. Carrie was the chief
feature of the play. The audience, the more it studied her, the more
it indicated its delight. Every other feature paled beside the quaint,
teasing, delightful atmosphere which Carrie contributed while on the
stage. Manager and company realised she had made a hit.

The critics of the daily papers completed her triumph. There were
long notices in praise of the quality of the burlesque, touched with
recurrent references to Carrie. The contagious mirth of the thing was
repeatedly emphasised.


"Miss Madenda presents one of the most delightful bits of character work
ever seen on the Casino stage," observed the stage critic of the "Sun."
"It is a bit of quiet, unassuming drollery which warms like good wine.
Evidently the part was not intended to take precedence, as Miss Madenda
is not often on the stage, but the audience, with the characteristic
perversity of such bodies, selected for itself. The little Quakeress was
marked for a favourite the moment she appeared, and thereafter easily
held attention and applause. The vagaries of fortune are indeed
curious."


The critic of the "Evening World," seeking as usual to establish a catch
phrase which should "go" with the town, wound up by advising: "If you
wish to be merry, see Carrie frown."

The result was miraculous so far as Carrie's fortune was concerned.
Even during the morning she received a congratulatory message from the
manager.

"You seem to have taken the town by storm," he wrote. "This is
delightful. I am as glad for your sake as for my own."

The author also sent word.

That evening when she entered the theatre the manager had a most
pleasant greeting for her.

"Mr. Stevens," he said, referring to the author, "is preparing a little
song, which he would like you to sing next week."

"Oh, I can't sing," returned Carrie.

"It isn't anything difficult. 'It's something that is very simple,' he
says, 'and would suit you exactly.'"

"Of course, I wouldn't mind trying," said Carrie, archly.

"Would you mind coming to the box-office a few moments before you
dress?" observed the manager, in addition. "There's a little matter I
want to speak to you about."

"Certainly," replied Carrie.

In that latter place the manager produced a paper.

"Now, of course," he said, "we want to be fair with you in the matter of
salary. Your contract here only calls for thirty dollars a week for
the next three months. How would it do to make it, say, one hundred and
fifty a week and extend it for twelve months?"

"Oh, very well," said Carrie, scarcely believing her ears.

"Supposing, then, you just sign this."

Carrie looked and beheld a new contract made out like the other one,
with the exception of the new figures of salary and time. With a hand
trembling from excitement she affixed her name.

"One hundred and fifty a week!" she murmured, when she was again alone.
She found, after all--as what millionaire has not?--that there was no
realising, in consciousness, the meaning of large sums. It was only a
shimmering, glittering phrase in which lay a world of possibilities.

Down in a third-rate Bleecker Street hotel, the brooding Hurstwood read
the dramatic item covering Carrie's success, without at first realising
who was meant. Then suddenly it came to him and he read the whole thing
over again.

"That's her, all right, I guess," he said.

Then he looked about upon a dingy, moth-eaten hotel lobby.

"I guess she's struck it," he thought, a picture of the old shiny,
plush-covered world coming back, with its lights, its ornaments, its
carriages, and flowers. Ah, she was in the walled city now! Its splendid
gates had opened, admitting her from a cold, dreary outside. She seemed
a creature afar off--like every other celebrity he had known.

"Well, let her have it," he said. "I won't bother her."

It was the grim resolution of a bent, bedraggled, but unbroken pride.




When Carrie got back on the stage, she found that over night her
dressing-room had been changed.

"You are to use this room, Miss Madenda," said one of the stage lackeys.

No longer any need of climbing several flights of steps to a small
coop shared with another. Instead, a comparatively large and commodious
chamber with conveniences not enjoyed by the small fry overhead. She
breathed deeply and with delight. Her sensations were more physical than
mental. In fact, she was scarcely thinking at all. Heart and body were
having their say.

Gradually the deference and congratulation gave her a mental
appreciation of her state. She was no longer ordered, but requested, and
that politely. The other members of the cast looked at her enviously as
she came out arrayed in her simple habit, which she wore all through
the play. All those who had supposedly been her equals and superiors
now smiled the smile of sociability, as much as to say: "How friendly we
have always been." Only the star comedian whose part had been so deeply
injured stalked by himself. Figuratively, he could not kiss the hand
that smote him.

Doing her simple part, Carrie gradually realised the meaning of the
applause which was for her, and it was sweet. She felt mildly guilty of
something--perhaps unworthiness. When her associates addressed her in
the wings she only smiled weakly. The pride and daring of place were not
for her. It never once crossed her mind to be reserved or haughty--to
be other than she had been. After the performances she rode to her room
with Lola, in a carriage provided.

Then came a week in which the first fruits of success were offered to
her lips--bowl after bowl. It did not matter that her splendid salary
had not begun. The world seemed satisfied with the promise. She began
to get letters and cards. A Mr. Withers--whom she did not know from
Adam--having learned by some hook or crook where she resided, bowed
himself politely in.

"You will excuse me for intruding," he said; "but have you been thinking
of changing your apartments?"

"I hadn't thought of it," returned Carrie.

"Well, I am connected with the Wellington--the new hotel on Broadway.
You have probably seen notices of it in the papers."

Carrie recognised the name as standing for one of the newest and most
imposing hostelries. She had heard it spoken of as having a splendid
restaurant.

"Just so," went on Mr. Withers, accepting her acknowledgment of
familiarity. "We have some very elegant rooms at present which we would
like to have you look at, if you have not made up your mind where you
intend to reside for the summer. Our apartments are perfect in every
detail--hot and cold water, private baths, special hall service for
every floor, elevators, and all that. You know what our restaurant is."

Carrie looked at him quietly. She was wondering whether he took her to
be a millionaire.

"What are your rates?" she inquired.

"Well, now, that is what I came to talk with you privately about. Our
regular rates are anywhere from three to fifty dollars a day."

"Mercy!" interrupted Carrie. "I couldn't pay any such rate as that."

"I know how you feel about it," exclaimed Mr. Withers, halting. "But
just let me explain. I said those are our regular rates. Like every
other hotel we make special ones however. Possibly you have not thought
about it, but your name is worth something to us." "Oh!" ejaculated
Carrie, seeing at a glance.

"Of course. Every hotel depends upon the repute of its patrons. A
well-known actress like yourself," and he bowed politely, while Carrie
flushed, "draws attention to the hotel, and--although you may not
believe it--patrons."

"Oh, yes," returned Carrie, vacantly, trying to arrange this curious
proposition in her mind.

"Now," continued Mr. Withers, swaying his derby hat softly and beating
one of his polished shoes upon the floor, "I want to arrange, if
possible, to have you come and stop at the Wellington. You need not
trouble about terms. In fact, we need hardly discuss them. Anything
will do for the summer--a mere figure--anything that you think you could
afford to pay."

Carrie was about to interrupt, but he gave her no chance.

"You can come to-day or to-morrow--the earlier the better--and we will
give you your choice of nice, light, outside rooms--the very best we
have."

"You're very kind," said Carrie, touched by the agent's extreme
affability. "I should like to come very much. I would want to pay what
is right, however. I shouldn't want to----"

"You need not trouble about that at all," interrupted Mr. Withers.
"We can arrange that to your entire satisfaction at any time. If three
dollars a day is satisfactory to you, it will be so to us. All you have
to do is to pay that sum to the clerk at the end of the week or month,
just as you wish, and he will give you a receipt for what the rooms
would cost if charged for at our regular rates."

The speaker paused.

"Suppose you come and look at the rooms," he added.

"I'd be glad to," said Carrie, "but I have a rehearsal this morning."

"I did not mean at once," he returned. "Any time will do. Would this
afternoon be inconvenient?"

"Not at all," said Carrie.

Suddenly she remembered Lola, who was out at the time.

"I have a room-mate," she added, "who will have to go wherever I do. I
forgot about that."

"Oh, very well," said Mr. Withers, blandly. "It is for you to say whom
you want with you. As I say, all that can be arranged to suit yourself."

He bowed and backed toward the door.

"At four, then, we may expect you?"

"Yes," said Carrie.

"I will be there to show you," and so Mr. Withers withdrew.

After rehearsal Carrie informed Lola. "Did they really?" exclaimed the
latter, thinking of the Wellington as a group of managers. "Isn't that
fine? Oh, jolly! It's so swell. That's where we dined that night we went
with those two Cushing boys. Don't you know?"

"I remember," said Carrie.

"Oh, it's as fine as it can be."

"We'd better be going up there," observed Carrie later in the afternoon.

The rooms which Mr. Withers displayed to Carrie and Lola were three and
bath--a suite on the parlour floor. They were done in chocolate and dark
red, with rugs and hangings to match. Three windows looked down into
busy Broadway on the east, three into a side street which crossed there.
There were two lovely bedrooms, set with brass and white enamel beds,
white ribbon-trimmed chairs and chiffoniers to match. In the third room,
or parlour, was a piano, a heavy piano lamp, with a shade of gorgeous
pattern, a library table, several huge easy rockers, some dado book
shelves, and a gilt curio case, filled with oddities. Pictures were upon
the walls, soft Turkish pillows upon the divan footstools of brown plush
upon the floor. Such accommodations would ordinarily cost a hundred
dollars a week.

"Oh, lovely!" exclaimed Lola, walking about.

"It is comfortable," said Carrie, who was lifting a lace curtain and
looking down into crowded Broadway.

The bath was a handsome affair, done in white enamel, with a large,
blue-bordered stone tub and nickel trimmings. It was bright and
commodious, with a bevelled mirror set in the wall at one end and
incandescent lights arranged in three places.

"Do you find these satisfactory?" observed Mr. Withers.

"Oh, very," answered Carrie.

"Well, then, any time you find it convenient to move in, they are ready.
The boy will bring you the keys at the door."

Carrie noted the elegantly carpeted and decorated hall, the marbled
lobby, and showy waiting-room. It was such a place as she had often
dreamed of occupying.

"I guess we'd better move right away, don't you think so?" she observed
to Lola, thinking of the commonplace chamber in Seventeenth Street.

"Oh, by all means," said the latter.

The next day her trunks left for the new abode.

Dressing, after the matinee on Wednesday, a knock came at her
dressing-room door.

Carrie looked at the card handed by the boy and suffered a shock of
surprise.

"Tell her I'll be right out," she said softly. Then, looking at the
card, added: "Mrs. Vance."

"Why, you little sinner," the latter exclaimed, as she saw Carrie coming
toward her across the now vacant stage. "How in the world did this
happen?"

Carrie laughed merrily. There was no trace of embarrassment in her
friend's manner. You would have thought that the long separation had
come about accidentally.

"I don't know," returned Carrie, warming, in spite of her first troubled
feelings, toward this handsome, good-natured young matron.

"Well, you know, I saw your picture in the Sunday paper, but your name
threw me off. I thought it must be you or somebody that looked just like
you, and I said: 'Well, now, I will go right down there and see.' I was
never more surprised in my life. How are you, anyway?"

"Oh, very well," returned Carrie. "How have you been?"

"Fine. But aren't you a success! Dear, oh! All the papers talking about
you. I should think you would be just too proud to breathe. I was almost
afraid to come back here this afternoon."

"Oh, nonsense," said Carrie, blushing. "You know I'd be glad to see
you."

"Well, anyhow, here you are. Can't you come up and take dinner with me
now? Where are you stopping?"

"At the Wellington," said Carrie, who permitted herself a touch of pride
in the acknowledgment.

"Oh, are you?" exclaimed the other, upon whom the name was not without
its proper effect.

Tactfully, Mrs. Vance avoided the subject of Hurstwood, of whom she
could not help thinking. No doubt Carrie had left him. That much she
surmised.

"Oh, I don't think I can," said Carrie, "to-night. I have so little
time. I must be back here by 7.30. Won't you come and dine with me?"

"I'd be delighted, but I can't to-night," said Mrs. Vance studying
Carrie's fine appearance. The latter's good fortune made her seem
more than ever worthy and delightful in the others eyes. "I promised
faithfully to be home at six." Glancing at the small gold watch pinned
to her bosom, she added: "I must be going, too. Tell me when you're
coming up, if at all."

"Why, any time you like," said Carrie.

"Well, to-morrow then. I'm living at the Chelsea now."

"Moved again?" exclaimed Carrie, laughing.

"Yes. You know I can't stay six months in one place. I just have to
move. Remember now--half-past five."

"I won't forget," said Carrie, casting a glance at her as she went away.
Then it came to her that she was as good as this woman now--perhaps
better. Something in the other's solicitude and interest made her feel
as if she were the one to condescend.

Now, as on each preceding day, letters were handed her by the doorman at
the Casino. This was a feature which had rapidly developed since Monday.
What they contained she well knew. MASH NOTES were old affairs in their
mildest form. She remembered having received her first one far back
in Columbia City. Since then, as a chorus girl, she had received
others--gentlemen who prayed for an engagement. They were common sport
between her and Lola, who received some also. They both frequently made
light of them.

Now, however, they came thick and fast. Gentlemen with fortunes did
not hesitate to note, as an addition to their own amiable collection of
virtues, that they had their horses and carriages. Thus one:


"I have a million in my own right. I could give you every luxury. There
isn't anything you could ask for that you couldn't have. I say this, not
because I want to speak of my money, but because I love you and wish to
gratify your every desire. It is love that prompts me to write. Will you
not give me one half-hour in which to plead my cause?"


Such of these letters as came while Carrie was still in the Seventeenth
Street place were read with more interest--though never delight--than
those which arrived after she was installed in her luxurious quarters at
the Wellington. Even there her vanity--or that self-appreciation which,
in its more rabid form, is called vanity--was not sufficiently cloyed to
make these things wearisome. Adulation, being new in any form, pleased
her. Only she was sufficiently wise to distinguish between her old
condition and her new one. She had not had fame or money before. Now
they had come. She had not had adulation and affectionate propositions
before. Now they had come. Wherefore? She smiled to think that men
should suddenly find her so much more attractive. In the least way it
incited her to coolness and indifference.

"Do look here," she remarked to Lola. "See what this man says: 'If
you will only deign to grant me one half-hour,'" she repeated, with an
imitation of languor. "The idea. Aren't men silly?"

"He must have lots of money, the way he talks," observed Lola. "That's
what they all say," said Carrie, innocently.

"Why don't you see him," suggested Lola, "and hear what he has to say?"

"Indeed I won't," said Carrie. "I know what he'd say. I don't want to
meet anybody that way."

Lola looked at her with big, merry eyes.

"He couldn't hurt you," she returned. "You might have some fun with
him."

Carrie shook her head.

"You're awfully queer," returned the little, blue-eyed soldier.

Thus crowded fortune. For this whole week, though her large salary had
not yet arrived, it was as if the world understood and trusted her.
Without money--or the requisite sum, at least--she enjoyed the luxuries
which money could buy. For her the doors of fine places seemed to open
quite without the asking. These palatial chambers, how marvellously they
came to her. The elegant apartments of Mrs. Vance in the Chelsea--these
were hers. Men sent flowers, love notes, offers of fortune. And still
her dreams ran riot. The one hundred and fifty! the one hundred and
fifty! What a door to an Aladdin's cave it seemed to be. Each day, her
head almost turned by developments, her fancies of what her fortune must
be, with ample money, grew and multiplied. She conceived of delights
which were not--saw lights of joy that never were on land or sea. Then,
at last, after a world of anticipation, came her first installment of
one hundred and fifty dollars.

It was paid to her in greenbacks--three twenties, six tens, and six
fives. Thus collected it made a very convenient roll. It was accompanied
by a smile and a salutation from the cashier who paid it.

"Ah, yes," said the latter, when she applied; "Miss Madenda--one hundred
and fifty dollars. Quite a success the show seems to have made."

"Yes, indeed," returned Carrie.

Right after came one of the insignificant members of the company, and
she heard the changed tone of address.

"How much?" said the same cashier, sharply. One, such as she had only
recently been, was waiting for her modest salary. It took her back to
the few weeks in which she had collected--or rather had received--almost
with the air of a domestic, four-fifty per week from a lordly foreman in
a shoe factory--a man who, in distributing the envelopes, had the manner
of a prince doling out favours to a servile group of petitioners. She
knew that out in Chicago this very day the same factory chamber was full
of poor homely-clad girls working in long lines at clattering machines;
that at noon they would eat a miserable lunch in a half-hour; that
Saturday they would gather, as they had when she was one of them, and
accept the small pay for work a hundred times harder than she was now
doing. Oh, it was so easy now! The world was so rosy and bright. She
felt so thrilled that she must needs walk back to the hotel to think,
wondering what she should do.

It does not take money long to make plain its impotence, providing the
desires are in the realm of affection. With her one hundred and fifty in
hand, Carrie could think of nothing particularly to do. In itself, as a
tangible, apparent thing which she could touch and look upon, it was a
diverting thing for a few days, but this soon passed. Her hotel bill
did not require its use. Her clothes had for some time been wholly
satisfactory. Another day or two and she would receive another hundred
and fifty. It began to appear as if this were not so startlingly
necessary to maintain her present state. If she wanted to do anything
better or move higher she must have more--a great deal more.

Now a critic called to get up one of those tinsel interviews which shine
with clever observations, show up the wit of critics, display the folly
of celebrities, and divert the public. He liked Carrie, and said so,
publicly--adding, however, that she was merely pretty, good-natured, and
lucky. This cut like a knife. The "Herald," getting up an entertainment
for the benefit of its free ice fund, did her the honour to beg her to
appear along with celebrities for nothing. She was visited by a young
author, who had a play which he thought she could produce. Alas, she
could not judge. It hurt her to think it. Then she found she must put
her money in the bank for safety, and so moving, finally reached the
place where it struck her that the door to life's perfect enjoyment was
not open.

Gradually she began to think it was because it was summer. Nothing was
going on much save such entertainments as the one in which she was the
star. Fifth Avenue was boarded up where the rich had deserted their
mansions. Madison Avenue was little better. Broadway was full of loafing
thespians in search of next season's engagements. The whole city was
quiet and her nights were taken up with her work. Hence the feeling that
there was little to do.

"I don't know," she said to Lola one day, sitting at one of the windows
which looked down into Broadway, "I get lonely; don't you?"

"No," said Lola, "not very often. You won't go anywhere. That's what's
the matter with you."

"Where can I go?"

"Why, there're lots of places," returned Lola, who was thinking of her
own lightsome tourneys with the gay youths. "You won't go with anybody."

"I don't want to go with these people who write to me. I know what kind
they are."

"You oughtn't to be lonely," said Lola, thinking of Carrie's success.
"There're lots would give their ears to be in your shoes."

Carrie looked out again at the passing crowd.

"I don't know," she said.

Unconsciously her idle hands were beginning to weary.

 When she first leaves Hurstwood, Carrie fears that he may wait around for her at the theater, but as the days pass she forgets him. "In a little while she was, except for occasional thoughts, wholly free of the gloom with which her life had been weighed in the flat." Now the "showy world" of the theater absorbs her interest. As time passes, Carrie continues to receive larger and more attractive roles. Her photograph is published in a Sunday paper and she receives occasional notices. Although her salary has been increased, Carrie finds that she is still as far removed as ever from the upper strata of society. Those who amiably approach her are interested only in their own pleasure; their advances lack any promise of genuine friendship. Carrie's part as a pert, frowning Quakeress in a summer production at the Casino theater is the chief attraction of the play. One critic, musing about the unpredictability of public taste, writes, "The vagaries of fortune are indeed curious." Another coins the catch phrase, "If you wish to be merry, see Carrie frown." The manager of the theater and the author of the play send her congratulatory messages. Her salary is increased once again, this time to the incredible sum of one hundred and fifty dollars a week. Carrie finds that she has more money than she could possibly spend. In a third-rate hotel downtown, Hurstwood reads of Carrie's successes and recognizes that she is now in "the walled city." She has become a celebrity of the sort he used to know so well. With a last gesture of pride, he resolves never to bother her. The manager of a brand new hotel offers to Carrie a suite overlooking Broadway at a greatly reduced rate. The young star moves in with her friend Lola. The wealthy Mrs. Vance pays her a visit. For a time Carrie enjoys the life of a popular young celebrity. She receives love letters and proposals from rich men, which she ignores. She is asked to perform at benefits. A young author seeks her out to show her his script. All the time, however, her understanding that she has not found "the door to life's perfect enjoyment" continues to grow. Carrie finds that there is nothing that she does which she really enjoys, and she begins to grow weary of such a life.

