A Thackeray miss, all black silk mitts and white cotton stockings. Long ago, in the beginning, I thought of shortening it. But Harriet Fuller sounds like a school-teacher, doesn’t it? And Hattie Fuller makes me think, somehow, of a burlesque actress. You know. ‘Hattie Fuller and Her Bouncing Belles.’“

At thirty-seven Harrietta Fuller had been fifteen years on the stage. She had little money, a small stanch following, an exquisite technique, and her fur coat was beginning to look gnawed around the edges. People even said maddeningly: “Harrietta Fuller? I saw her when I was a kid, years ago. Why, she must be le’see — ten — twelve — why, she must be going on pretty close to forty.”

A worshipper would defend her. “You’re