sister carrie

Chapter 44 (2)

Chapter 26 The Messenger Falls: Finding a Way Out (2)
"You can't find the theater manager today anyway," the young man said proactively. "He's not in the city."

He noticed her perplexed look, and then said, "What do you need him for?"

"I want to see if I can find a place," she replied.

"You'd better see the manager of the theater," he replied, "but he's not here at the moment."

"When will he be here?" asked Carrie, feeling somewhat relieved by the news.

"Well, maybe eleven or twelve. He's here after two o'clock in the afternoon."

Carrie thanked him, and went out in good spirits.The young man watched her off from his beautifully decorated window of the ticket office.

"Good-looking," he said to himself, and then he remembered how she had condescended to ask, and was quite proud of it.

At that time, a well-known comedy troupe was performing under contract at the Grand Opera House.It was the manager of the troupe that Carrie wanted to see here.She did not know that this man had little power, or that if there was a vacancy an actor would be sent from New York to fill it.

"His office is upstairs," said the man in the box office.

There were several people in the manager's office, two leaning against the window, and another talking to the man at the roll-top desk--the manager.Carrie glanced uneasily, wondering whether she should make her request in the presence of so many people, two of whom - at the window - were already scrutinizing her.

"I can't do that," the manager was saying. "Mr Froman has a rule that no visitors are allowed backstage. No, no."

Carrie stood aside, waiting timidly.There were chairs nearby, but no one told her to sit down.The guy who spoke to the manager walked away dejectedly.The leader stared at the newspaper in front of him solemnly, as if it was important news.

"Did you see the story about Nat Godwin in the Herald this morning, Harris?"

"No," said the person being asked, "how do you say it?"

"An excellent pre-screen speech at the Chihuly Theater last night, good to see."

Harris went to the table and looked for the Herald.

"What's the matter?" the manager asked Carrie, obviously just noticing her.He thought he was here to ask for a free ticket.

Carrie worked up her courage desperately, and her courage was not great at best.She also recognizes that she is a newbie and assumes she will be reprimanded.She had judged it, so now she could only hope to excuse that she had come for instruction.

"Can you please tell me how to get on stage and act?"

It's better to get straight to the point.The person in the chair felt that she was interesting in a sense.The simplicity of her questions and her manner captured his imagination.He smiled, as did the others in the room, though they made no secret of their amusedness.

"I don't know," he replied, eyeing her cheekily. "Any stage experience?"

"A little," replied Carrie, "in an amateur show."

She thought she had to show herself a little bit in order to attract his attention.

"Didn't you ever learn to play?" he said, with airs that his friends, like Carrie, might notice how measured he took things.

no sir. "

"Well, I don't know," he replied.She was standing in front of him at that time, and he lazily leaned back on the chair, "How did you think of going on stage?"

She was a little ashamed of the man's recklessness, but she could only smile at his obnoxious smile, and said:

"I have to live."

"Oh," he replied.He liked her regular demeanor, and thought he might as well get acquainted with her. "That's a good reason, isn't it? Well, Chicago isn't exactly the place you'd hope for. You'd have to go to New York, then." There are more opportunities on the side, and it is not easy to open up the situation here."

Carrie smiled genially, thanking him so much for condescending to give him so much advice.He noticed the smile and explained it slightly differently.This, he thought, was an opportunity for flirting that he had found so easily.

"Sit down, please," he said, pulling a chair from his desk and lowering his voice so the two people in the room couldn't hear him.The two men exchanged eyes with each other to show understanding.

"Well, I have to go, Barna," said one of them, walking away, and said to the manager, "see you this afternoon."

"Okay," said the manager.

The other one who remained picked up the newspaper as if reading it.

"Do you have any idea of ​​what kind of role you can play?" the manager whispered.

"Oh, no," said Carrie. "At first, I can do anything."

"I see," he said, "do you live in the city?"

"Yes, sir."

The manager smiled even more graciously.

"Have you ever tried being a chorus dancer?" he asked, pretending to be intimate.

Carrie began to feel that there was something exaggerated and unnatural in the man's manner.

"No," she said.

"Most of the girls that step on stage start here," he continued. "It's a great way to gain experience."

He gave her a friendly, persuasive look.

"I don't understand that," said Carrie.

"It's a difficult thing," he went on, "but, you know, there's always a chance." Then, as if it occurred to him, he took out his watch and looked at it. "I have an appointment at two o'clock in the afternoon," he said. "I have to go to lunch now. Can you come to dinner with me? I can talk over dinner."

"Oh no," said Carrie.She immediately noticed the man's whole motive in her mind. "I have a date myself."

"It's a pity," he said, realizing that he was a little too hasty.Carrie was going away now, and he said, "I might know something next time I come."

"Thank you," she replied, not without horror, and went out.

"She's pretty, isn't she?" said the fellow manager.He didn't know the details of the game the manager was playing.

"Yes, kind of pretty," said another, sad at the loss of the game, "but she'll never be an actress, only a chorus--that's all."

This little experience almost spoiled her ambition to visit the manager of the Chicago Opera.However, after a while, she decided to go.The manager is a serious person by nature.He said at once that there were no vacancies, and seemed to think she was foolish to look for them.

"Chicago is not the place to start something," he said. "You should be in New York."

She still insisted not to relax.She went to the McVicar Theatre, but couldn't find anyone. The play "The Former Residence" is being staged here, but the person she was asked to look for could not be found.

These little job-seeking activities took up her time until four o'clock, and she was quite tired and ready to go home.She felt that she should look elsewhere, but so far the results had been too discouraging.She hitched a ride and was at Ogton Flats in forty-five minutes, but she decided to take the car to the West End Post Office, where she used to take Hurstwood's letters.There was one there, written on Saturday.She took it apart and looked at it, with mixed feelings.The letter was full of enthusiasm, and it was extremely sad that she did not go to see him and that there was no news after that.She felt rather sorry for the man.He loves her, that is very clear.As for wanting to love her even though he already has a family, and daring to do so, that is a kind of evil.She felt that a reply was due, and decided that she should write to him, telling him that she had learned of his family, and was justly outraged at his deceit.She would tell him that the relationship between them was broken forever.

In her room, she spent some time with the wording of the letter, and began to write it at once.This is a very difficult thing.

"You don't need me to explain why I didn't meet you." In part of her letter, it reads, "How can you deceive me like this? Don't expect me to talk to you again. In any case, I will never. Oh, how can you do that?" She wrote full of emotion, "The misfortune you have brought me is far beyond your imagination. I hope you will stop being infatuated with me. We cannot trust each other. See you, goodbye."

The next day, she took the letter and reluctantly dropped it into the letter box around the corner.Even at that moment, she still couldn't decide if she should.Then she hitchhiked to the city.

This is the low season for the department store business, but because of her upright and charming personality, people listen to her voice more politely than the voice of ordinary young women, and the questions people ask her are the old ones that she is used to. question.

"What can you do? Have you ever worked in retail? Do you have experience?"

At the market, at the company, at all the big stores, all, it's off season; check back at a later date, maybe they'll hire her, etc.

Coming home at the end of the day, tired and discouraged, she found Drouet had been.His umbrella and light coat were gone, and she thought something else was missing too, but she couldn't tell for sure that nothing else had moved.

So what was she going to do now that it would be forever for him to leave her? It was obvious that in a day or two she would have to face the harsh world as before.Her clothes will be worn out.With her usual expression, she crossed her hands and squeezed her fingers.There were big drops of tears in the eyes, streaming down the cheeks hotly.How lonely she was, how lonely she was.

Drouet did come, but in a very different mood than Carrie had imagined.He had hoped to see her, and pretended to be back to fetch the rest of the wardrobe, and hoped to make up with her before he left.

He was therefore deeply disappointed not to see Carrie on his return.He was free to do some trivial things, hoping that she was somewhere nearby and would come back soon.He pricked up his ears every once in a while, hoping to hear her footsteps going upstairs.

When he acted like this, his purpose was to make people believe that he just came back, and he happened to be bumped into him, so he was very embarrassed.Then he would explain that he needed to find clothes and to see how things were going.

Although he waited some time, Carrie did not come back.First he fumbled in the drawer slowly, expecting that she would be back soon, then he looked out the window instead, and rested in the rocking chair instead.But there was still no sign of Carrie.Feeling a little uneasy, he lit his cigar.After this, he walked up and down the floor.Then, he looked out the window and saw the clouds, and he remembered that there was an appointment at three o'clock, and he thought it was useless to wait, so he took an umbrella and a thin coat.This, he hoped, would frighten Carrie.Tomorrow, he will come back to fetch other things.He'll find out what's going on.

When he was about to go, he was really sorry that he could not see her.On the wall hung a small picture of her in the little jacket he'd first bought her—her face was more wistful than he'd seen it lately.He was really moved when he saw this picture, so he gazed into her eyes with a rare mood in his usual life.

Then he went to the door, took a good look, and went out.

(End of this chapter)