Hepworth
was with him.
"It's all right," said Frank. "I knew Uncle Fred would fix it. All he
said was, 'Hepworth, you're a born actor, take the part yourself'; and
Mr. Hepworth, like the brick he is, said he'd do it."
"I fairly jumped at the chance," said the young artist, smiling down into
Patty's bright face. "I was dying to be in this thing anyway. And they
tell me the costume is nothing but several hundred yards of Greek
draperies, so I think it will fit me all right."
"But you don't know the lines," said Patty, delighted at this solution of
the dilemma, but unable to see how it could be accomplished.
"Oh, that's all right," said Mr. Hepworth merrily. "I shall make up my
lines as I go along, and when I see that anyone else wants to talk, I
shall stop and give them a chance."
It sounded a little precarious, but as there was nothing else to do,
and Florence Douglass begged them to put somebody--anybody--in her
place and let her go home, they all agreed to avail themselves of Mr.
Hepworth's services.
And it was fortunate they did, for though the rest of the characters were
bright and clever representations, yet it was Mr. Hepworth's funny
impromptu jokes and humourous actions in the character of Niobe that
made the hit of the evening. Indeed, he and Kenneth Harper quite carried
off the laurels from the other amateurs; but so delighted were the
Vernondale young people at the success of the whole play that they were
more than willing to give the praise where it belonged.
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