Alice was watching two things intently, the production and her husband, wondering just what the man was thinking. She did not think him the prude, hardly, but she could almost see the wheels turning, waiting to be called to shut the theater down

Speed sat taking in the production wondering about the reaction of say the Reverend Gideon Evans, or The Ladies of Kalispell for that matter. Which should be quite visible as things progressed. And, perchance if Pastor Evans made no move to halt the production, the Ladies of Kalispell would certainly want that to happen, or perhaps they wanted to see the entire production before dispensing their wrath.

"I just know there'll be an explosion from the Pastor or the ladies or both, but it seems that they may be waiting to see the entire play before lowering the boom on this thing," He said as he leaned closer to her. "A bit risque for Kalispell IO would think, but then again, maybe not."

"I would never have thought that the costuming would be so lacking for a play here in town." She replied also in a low voice. While she could see that several other patrons were also whispering to one another, it was hard to tell if it was positive or negative. "This is actually not that bad, I mean, even though Arabella is having the time of her life, the play is quite good,"

Phin was still making notes about what he was seeing. He had never said anything about being a theater critic, but as enjoyable as it might be for some, the use of actual nudity as a shock factor, or whatever their excuse was for it.

The performance was not bad, it could be better, or so he thought. Iy seemed that they gave up on the nakedness, and that was good, though if there was damage to be done, they had already done it.

He did enjoy the opening scene, with Edward Darling as Satan. That had been really well done, but then the man was a thespian and therefore quite capable of delivering his lines forcefully. Arabella was not all that bad, he had to admit once she began to take the part a bit more seriously.

He wondered how the Ladies of Kalispell felt about the production.

As he took his bow, Edward Darling was furious!

The overacting, exhibitionist little baggage had upstaged him again! 

Miss Hardy, the star of the show, had received massive applause, of course; he himself had engendered an adequate amount of clapping and cheering and, importantly, as the villain of the piece, a satisfying amount of booing. The stolid Astin came next and then... her. Wearing a hastily thrown-on dressing gown to modestly cover her revealing Salome outfit, she curtsied to the clapping, cheering, booing, cat calls, you name it, that greeted her final walk onto the stage. Arabella lapped it up - it might not have been entirely positive... but it was attention, and plenty of it.

Darling's cat-like eyes darted to a figure at the side of the audience: one of her minions, handing a letter to Mr McVey, Editor of the local newspaper. He didn't know its contents, but he could guess.

To My Dear Fellow Kalispellians, A Letter of Apology

I have asked the Editor of our esteemed local newspaper, Mr Phineas McVey, to print this letter as the quickest and surest way to offer my sincere and abject apologies for a terrible mistake that I made last night on the stage of our wonderful theatre, The White Rose. In a fit of religious zeal, believing it to be the truest and most authentic way to represent the venerated figure of Mother Eve in the Garden of Eden, your foolish correspondent decided, against all the dictates of prudence and good taste, to appear completely and utterly unclad, without even a fig leaf to obscure those things which must never be mentioned, let alone displayed, in polite society, upon the stage before an audience of shocked and horrified citizens of our town. 

Please believe me when I say, hand on heart, that it was not my intention to cause the distress and shock that my precipitate actions have engendered. I must also apologise for any unclean thoughts that I may have inadvertently caused any of the otherwise clean minded and sober gentlemen who happened to be sitting in the front rows, where the scenery was less than successful than I had planned, at covering my nudity. 

You will be pleased to hear that I have already been very severely spoken to by both the management and my fellow thespians upon this matter, and await to hear what chastisement or punishment may ensue. It is my intention to make amends for the harm that I have caused by my silly and immature behavior, and if any readers have any ideas about how I can best make amends, please forward them to the editor of this newspaper or privately to Miss A.S. Mudd, c/o the Belle-St. Regis Hotel, Main St. Kalispell, where I will give them my fullest consideration.

For those dear readers who were not in the audience, but for good moral reasons wish to judge for them selves the extent of my folly, photographic Tableaux prints are available on application from the usual establishments, $2 each or the complete set of three for just $5, all proceeds to charity.

Let me end, dear forgiving reader, by encouraging you all to attend the Excelsior Player's next performance, which will be our tasteful and highly moral production of The Old Curiosity Shop by Mr. Charles Dickens, and to assure you that my costuming for that production will be inspected, approved and sanctioned by the Theatre Management before the opening night.

Your sincere and penitent friend, 

                                                      Arabella S. Mudd, Miss.

As he watched one of Arabella's minions come to the front and present her with the same old big bunch of silk flowers that she had presented to herself every night, Darling swore he would have his revenge on the little upstart.