About noon
Later Stuart sat in the empty auditorium of the theater where the sheeted chairs stretched off into a circle of darkness . The stage , naked of setting ; the actors whose haggard faces looked ghastly beyond the retrievement of make-up ; the noisy and belated frenzy of carpenters and stage crew : all these were sights and sounds grown so stale that he found it hard to focus his attention on those nuances of interpretation which would make or ruin his play . He was conscious only of a yearning to find some quiet place where there was shade along a sea beach , and there to lie down and die happily . About noon Mr. Grady , who had for some purpose gone `` back , '' resumed his seat at the author 's side and , between incisive criticism shouted through his megaphone , suggested , in the contrast of a conversational tone , `` Do n't you ever look in your letter box ? Here 's mail for you . '' Absently Stuart took the envelope and when the scene ended made his way to the light of the open stage door to investigate its contents . There , seeking asylum from the greater heat of the wings he came upon the ingenue , indulging in the luxury of exhausted tears .