136 MYSELF AND MY FRIENDS

security London was alive and rich and keen "Fanny"
swam forward on the tide Shaw was no longer the
prophet of the few who worshipped at the shrine of the
Court The shop-girl, the storekeeper, the suburban
mother and the kindly old gentleman who played bowls
in Surbiton, all came to see the wicked Mr Shaw and
found that, after all, he was only a jolly fellow who wrote
a jolly play I liked the part of Margaret Knox, a swift
daring girl, with humour and tenderness Just before, I
had been playing Hilda Wangel, in "The Master
Builder " How cheerful it was to turn from her cruelty
to this refreshing creation of Shaw's I don't think any
of his characters are cruel They laugh at the foibles of
human nature, but they seldom draw their brows together
and deride

The figure of Shaw making fun pleased the nine
hundred and ninety-nine, but some of his more serious-
minded friends of the old Fabian days shook their heads
with concern This was not the earnest spirit which had
threatened to set the world on fire in order to make it
free Mrs Sidney Webb wrote a charming letter, but
one which had a little sting in its tail

"I wish you could persuade G B S to do a piece of
serious work, and not pursue this somewhat barren
tilting at the family "

GBS came into the theatre on the day when the
letter arrived, and I showed it to him He for once
looked grave Shaw has a tremendous respect for
Beatrice Webb's opinion

"Fanny's First Play" went on and on—month after
month, until I resigned myself to that curious monotony
of a long run It was a new sensation not to see managers
frowning at the box-office and stage-managers skimping
over yards of stuff Here was all the pleasant extrava-
gance of success I was tired, but loath to leave it When
the summer came I wrote to Shaw and suggested that
we should work right through the summer and that