Minnie shivered as if a cold blast of air had swept around her. How white and stupid the people looked, their eyes glassy under the hideous blue-green lights. They were staring for all the world like the pigs' heads that decorated Hesselman's butcher shop during the holidays.
"Fours—get off the set and be ready to come back when you're called."
Then Letcher turned to the group which included Minnie, Eleanor and Al Kessler, who had slipped among them without having been noticed.
"Come toward the platform, you!" he shouted, beckoning. They walked solemnly toward the platform Bacon mounted it and all but Minnie bowed and smiled with forced animation when he nodded good morning.
"That's Bacon," prompted Eleanor, "for heaven's sake, don't stand there like a dummy."
Minnie was bewildered. She glanced swiftly at the others to see what they were doing. They were still smiling. She smiled, too, very nervously.
Bacon was looking right at them. He nodded to Eleanor. He had been compelled to take her as leading lady in one of the pictures he had made for Beauregard. The picture suffered as a result and Bacon was criticized for the stupid mistake of miscasting the leading rôle; the public, even the press, know so little of what goes on behind the scenes, what elements of petty politics and love affairs enter into the making of a picture!
Bacon had borne a keen resentment against Eleanor, though at heart he was not an uncharitable man. He thought he was being magnanimous when he gave her extra work in his pictures now.
"Eleanor, you're looking very well today," he said in a
