Were it not for hours like these, the hope of them or the memory of them, few people would continue to trudge the dolorous road of the playwright. Such hours come   
rarely and they do not linger unspoiled, but they are glimpses of heaven while they last. It was not for long that Vickery and Sheila were left seated upon the sunny 
 
side of Saturn with the rings of unearthly glory swirling round them.
 
Their return to earth was all the more jolting for the distance they had to fall.
 
Sheila saw Eldon turn away in a sudden rancor of jealousy. She saw Reben turn swart with rage. His cruel mouth twisted into a sneer, and when Vickery turned to him 
 
with the gratitude of a child to a rescuing angel Reben’s comments wiped the smile off Vickery’s rosy face and left it white and sick.
 
Sheila suffered all her own shocks and vicariously those of each of the three she had embroiled. She suffered most for the young creator who had seen that his work was 
 
good but must yet hear Satan’s critique. And Reben looked like a wise and haughty Lucifer when in answer to Vickery’s appealing “Well?” he said:
 
“Well, you certainly got over—here. They like it. No doubt of that. But they liked ‘The Nautilus.’ It broke all records here in Clinton and lasted two nights in 
 
New York.
 
“You mustn’t let ’em fool you, my boy. This stock company is a kind of religion to these yokels. They snap up whatever you throw ’em the way a sea-lion snaps up a 
 
fish. Anything on God’s earth will go here. Just copper your bets all round. Whatever went here will flop in New York, and vice versa. Did you hear ’em howl at that 
 
old wheeze in the first act? Broadway would throw the seats at you if you sprung it. The one scene that fell flat to-night is the one scene worth keeping in.
 
“You’ve got a lot of work to do. You’d better let me bring Ledley or somebody down here to whip it into shape. As it stands, I don’t see how I can use it. Look me 
 
up next time you’re in town—if you can bring me some new ideas.”
 
Then he turned to Sheila and, taking her by that dangerous elbow, led her aside and murdered her joy. He was perfectly sincere about his distrust of the piece. He had 
 
seen so many false hopes come up like violets in the snow, only to wither at the first sharp weather.
 
He answered Sheila’s de............