The advance agent says it is a high-class
performance and will appeal particularly to the rich city people up in
the mountains. It's a sort of open-air affair, you know." And then Mr.
Squires was obliged to explain to his fellow-townsmen all the known
details in connection with the approaching performance of "As You Like
It" by the Boothby Company, set for Tinkletown on the following Thursday
night. Hapgood's Grove had been selected by the agent as the place in
which the performance should be given.
"Don't they give an afternoon show?" asked Mrs. Williams.
"Sure not," said Harry curtly. "It isn't a museum."
"Of course not," added Anderson Crow reflectively. "It's a troupe."
The next morning, bright and early, Mark Riley fared forth with paste
and brush. Before noon, the board fences, barns and blank walls of
Tinkletown flamed with great red and blue letters, twining in and about
the portraits of Shakespeare, Manager Boothby, Rosalind, Orlando, and an
extra king or two in royal robes. A dozen small boys spread the hand
bills from the _Banner_ presses, and Tinkletown was stirred by the
excitement of a sensation that had not been experienced since
Forepaugh's circus visited the county seat three years before. It went
without saying that Manager Boothby would present "As You Like It" with
an "unrivalled cast." He had "an all-star production," direct from "the
leading theatres of the universe.
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