For
a time he had engagements and money in plenty, but a subtle change was
taking place in him, and managers and audiences saw it, though they
could not say precisely where the deterioration had taken place.
There is a certain sporting set of theatrical men who are very dangerous
companions. Their daily work is exciting, and when they want change
they often gamble, because that is the only form of excitement which is
keener than the stir and tumult of the theatre. When Devine won three
hundred pounds on one Derby he was a lost man. He pitted his wits
against the bookmakers'; he took to loafing about with those flash,
cunning fellows who appear to spend their mornings in bars and their
evenings in music-halls; he lost his ambition, and he began to lead a
double life. In the end he took to presenting himself at the theatre in
various stages of drunkenness, and on one unlucky night he practically
settled his own fate by falling down on the stage after he had blundered
over his lines a dozen times.
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