An important performance is impending and at the last moment both the leading lady and her understudy are suddenly taken ill.

The management is in a quandary.

In the midst of its confusion the stage carpenter suggests that he has a daughter who can play the part.
When this functionary came upon the scene my interest in the play began to wax stronger.

Hester Chaffin's father had been a stage carpenter, and this turn in the scene startled me not a little after having found our picture in the foyer.
The carpenter's suggestion is at first treated with ridicule.

He insists that she has learned the part from witnessing the rehearsals, and urges the managers to give her a trial.