Beth Norvell: A Romance of the West
Randall Parrish
Paperback
(Independently published, June 25, 2020)
There were nine altogether in the party registering. Thisnumber included the manager, who, both on and off thestage, quite successfully impersonated the villain—arather heavy-jawed, middle-aged fellow, of foreignappearance, with coarse, gruff voice; threerepresentatives of the gentler sex; a child of eight, exactspecies unknown, wrapped up like a mummy; and fourmales. Beyond doubt the most notable member of thetroupe was the comedian "star," Mr. T. Macready Lane,whose well-known cognomen must even now awakenhappy histrionic memories throughout the western circuit.The long night's ride from their previous stand, involvingas it did two changes of trains, had proven exceedinglywearisome; and the young woman in the rather natty bluetoque, the collar of her long gray coat turned up in partialconcealment of her face, was so utterly fatigued that sherefused to wait for a belated breakfast, and insisted uponbeing at once directed to her room. There was asubstantial bolt decorating the inside of the door, but,rendered careless by sheer exhaustion of both mind andbody,