It was a great satisfaction for Frank to watch the face of the girl. He saw how keenly she was enjoying everything, and her enjoyment gave him the greatest pleasure.

Merry soon saw that this “All-Star Combination” was made up of “ham-fatters,” among whom were two or three fairly good people. Haley knew how to catch the crowd with specialties, and he had introduced singing and dancing into every act.

Frank watched for Hans. The Dutch lad appeared at last, blackened with burnt cork, representing one of the negro laborers. He did not have any lines, which was fortunate, as his dialect would not have corresponded with his color.

Hans was one of the slaves on sale at the auction at which “Simon Legree” obtained possession of “Uncle Tom.”

Before the play was half finished little Nell was greatly wrought up over it. The escape of “Eliza” over the floating ice, with the bloodhounds in pursuit, was well done, and it caused the gallery to go wild.

When the curtain went down after that climax, little Nell fell back in her chair, crying:

“Oh, Frank, isn’t it wonderful! I never knew anything could be so real and still a play.”

From where he sat, Merry could see through one of the open stage entrances at the opposite side. Several times he saw some of the actors pause there and watch what was taking place on the stage. It happened that he was looking through that entrance when one of them stopped there, glanced quickly around, and produced a bottle from one of his pockets. The man quickly uncorked the bottle and took a long drink from it.

He was the one who played the part of “Legree.”

When the man next appeared on the stage, Merry saw he was drunk. Frank watched him closely.

“That fellow acts to me as if he is out for trouble,” he thought. “I believe he is well cast in the piece, for he seems to be a ruffian by nature.”

Frank sat so near the stage that he was able to see bits of by-play that the audience did not catch. Thus it happened that he saw “Legree” give “Uncle Tom” a look of genuine hatred and make a menacing gesture toward him.

Merry instantly “tumbled.”

“Trouble between them,” he decided.

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