After the first year or so, the goddess Fortune, more fickle in Theatreland, perhaps, than anywhere else, passed him by.

London had no use for his services, especially when it learned that he aspired to play parts.

It even refused him the privilege of walking on and understudying.

He drifted into the provinces, where, when he obtained an engagement, he found more scope for his ambitions.

Often he was out, and purchased with his savings the bread of idleness.