midday
Maxwell went to a manager whom he had once met in Boston , where they had been apparently acceptable to each other in a long talk they had about the drama . The manager showed himself a shrewd and rather remorseless man of business in all that he said of the theatre , but he spoke as generously and reverently of the drama as Maxwell felt , and they parted with a laughing promise to do something for it yet . In fact , if it had not been for the chances that threw him into Godolphin 's hand afterwards , he would have gone to this manager with his play in the first place , and he went to him now , as soon as he was out of Godolphin 's hands , not merely because he was the only manager he knew in the city , but because he believed in him as much as his rather sceptical temper permitted him to believe in any one , and because he believed he would give him at least an intelligent audience . The man in the box-office , where he stood in the glow of an electric light at midday , recovered himself from the disappointment he suffered when Maxwell asked for the manager instead of a seat for the night 's performance . He owned that the manager was in his room , but said he was very much engaged , and he was hardly moved from this conviction by Maxwell 's urgence that he should send in his card ; perhaps something in Maxwell 's tone and face as of authority prevailed with him ; perhaps it was the title of the Boston _ Abstract _ , which Maxwell wrote under his name , to recall himself better to the manager 's memory . The answer was a good while getting back ; people came in and bought tickets and went away , while Maxwell hung about the vestibule of the theatre and studied the bill of the play which formed its present attraction , but at last the man in the box-office put his face sidewise to the semi-circular opening above the glass-framed plan of seats and , after he had identified Maxwell , said , `` Mr. Grayson would like to see you . '' At the same time the swinging doors of the theatre opened , and a young man came out , to whom the other added , indicating Maxwell , `` This is the gentleman ; '' and the young man held the door open for him to pass in , and then went swiftly before him into the theatre , and led the way around the orchestra circle to a little door that opened in the wall beside one of the boxes .