Butte record. (Bidwell, Butte County, Cal.) 1853-1858, 1857-04-25

a quiet smile. The fact Is, Zephlrlne
is virtuous girl, and maintains herself
on her salary, and that cannot be very
large at minor theatre, of course ,
l now felt degree of respect blen-
ded with my admiration, which made
me exclaim Indignantly that the mana.
ger must be brute not to provide this
divine creature with the means of pro-
curing a more congenial habitation.
Meanwhile. Mr.. Travers had entered
the shop where sat very fat, middle
aged woman, with good-humored,
though vulgar countenance, of whom
be inquired for Mademoiselle Zephi-
rine.
walk up, SIR said the good woman,
my gals at home, second pair front,
if you please
We made our way cautiously through
the oranges and sacks of potatoes at
the back of the shop, to door leading
to the staircase, when the civil mat.on
having by this time removed her un-
wieldy mass from behind the counter,
followed us to the foot of the stairs,
and then called out in shrill voice Il
say, Peg. open the door to show light
Here's two gentlemen as wants to
speak to you.'
To me this was like heavy blow
from mace. 1 would rather she had
killed me outright. A confused sound
seemed to buzz in my ears, and to ring
the knell of all my fairy dreams. My
silpb, my peri, was known to the NOR
ais of this neighborhood, and what a
neighborhood las plain Peg Jenkln-
son, and this fat woman was her moth
er. l felt as if 1 was reeiing, and
caught hold of the dingy. clsmmy ban.
MISTER rail for support as l followed my
godfather up those stairs. daily trod-
den by her twinkllng feet, scarcely
needing his remark that 'sylphs and
poets always lived in the Clouds
The ascent seemed endless, and yet
1 almost wished it never to end, l could
have been content to be sentenced, like
some enchanted prince, to be eternally
mounting the stair, yet never reaching
the goal, to retain remnant of those
illusions which l secretly began to fear
would scarcely come out unscratched,
from the ordeal of prosaic reality.
The sylph had opened her door ac-
cording to her mothers suggestion, by
no means useless precaution on that
dark landing place, where broom and
washing tub, and sundry other arti-
cles of homely use. might have occasi-
oned stumble, and we now entered
her sanctuary.
'MademoiselIe Zephirine.' said Mr..
Travers. addressing her by her theatri-
cal name, Il hope we don't come at an
inconvenient moment?' But / had a
word or two to convey to you from
Mr.
The sylph curtsied with professions
al grace, and observed that the room
was in IAN uproar,' but hoped he would
not mind it. My godfather assured
her that he had not come to observe
the state Of her room, but merely on
business, proceeded to discuss the times
Of the proffered engagement.
Meanwhile l was so perfect a cy-
phor in her eyes, not being invested
with any managerial credentials, that
she took not the least notice of me
and [ had leisure to scan her features
to my hearts content.
Could it really be the fairy like crea.
ture that had charmed me so often ?
Such was the first question asked my.
self. There we're, to be sure. the small
feet set off by pair of neat shoes
the only neat thing about her toilet, by
the by, for her hair was in a tumble,
and the dark cotton dress, that sat
loosely on her symmetrical figure, was
unrelieved by anything in the shape Of
collar or tippst, but as TO the beau
ty Of her countenance, which l imag-
ined so divine, not trace could l dis
cover of it now that was near enough
to gaze at my star with the haked eye.
Her brown skin and commonplace fea.
lures showed how much she was indebt-
ed TO white and red paint, and to the
magic of the footlights for her suppos.
ed charms. She seemed to me but a
younger edition of the fat orange wo-
man below stairs. minus the forid COM
plexion of the latter, Of which late hours
and the fatigues Of her profession had
deprived Zephirine, supposing her ever
to have possessed such bloom in her
more youthful days, for alas this sylph
whom had fondly fancied to be about
seventeen, had been a small star at
various provincial theatres for the last
dozen years. and on closer view was
evidently approaching thirty, and not
thiry in wholesome atmosphere where
beauty may still be in its prime, but in
the hotbed existence of a theatre,
among paper flowers, tin water and
sunshine produced by gas or greasy
candles.
Nor were the surrounding objects
calculated to supply the poetic ele-
ments deficient in Zephlrine's face, and
manners and conversation. the latter
of which exhibited no capacity save
that of driving good bargain, and
turned solely on the number of nose
gays she had received in such and such
towns For when my disappointed eye
roved for moment from Zephirine &
features, in which l vainly endeavored
to discover the slightest trace of the
peri, or the Polish maiden, in the curl