The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1868-07-08

apology for Norine's rudeness. The
woman actually snubbed her mistress ,
"And Miss Aubusson 2"
"Only said quietly that Norine had
been her mothers maid, and they were
used to her humors 'i'i
GA French maid in her mothers
time But what of the man who was
here last night 7" ta
"She grew pale and distressed al
the bare mention of him, and said that
asleep or awake, he was neVsr out of
her Thoughts never anything but q
source of pain and forboding to her
And this she said with sub that shook
her from head to foot"
j a silence followed our talk. I read
the magazines quietly. Carl pretend.
ed to do the same. But l could sec
that his impaiionce was wearing upon
him. His fine face was beautiful, with
vivid color, his eyes pretcrpaturally
bright.
'.Shall we go somewhere ?" said at
length.
'Oh, thank you, Nelly should
Ike it."
We went out into the intense, win
ter night. Sublimely calm, the con-
stellated heavens brooded over the rest
less world Unnindful of the crowds,
we walked on, and the bencdiction of
the ight fell upon us.
sit is not what want, though" said
Carl, impa,iently. eff I could work off
this excitement somehow But the glo-
ry OF the night will only intes;fy it.
All, Nelly, come, come in here !"
"Go in here Carl, are you crazy p
He did not heed me.
1t was second or third rate thea
ter. The great masses thronged here.
Cannon faces were all around US ;some
were gross faces that leered stupidity at
US, dull souls not up to the finer forms
of art, uncultivated natures that cheer
cd the ranting actor, and went into
raptures over the pert actresses who
Stunned their sex.
I The spacious house was already
crowded. Our seats were far down to.
ward the stage, where no innocent illu-
sions were possible. The pasteboard,
the tawdrines of tie scenes, the roaring
pillows of blue cantric, the tinsel, the
rouge and powder, were unmitigatedly
obvious. The play was one of those
quasi moral ones where the rascally he
ro is overcome with confusion, and pi
ously repents at the dcnoucment, amid
the vociferous applause of the galleries
But tonight the galleries were inatten-
tive there was an occasional hiss dur
ing the long d rawn out scenes, and in
the interludes sbrill calls for somebody
| whose names l did not catch.
'They want Mademoiselle-"a again
I lost the name-said eur next neigh.
Dor to Carl, The famous danscuse, yog
know Never have seen her Is il
possible ?" and the portly gentleman
shrugged his shoulders in surprise aud
pity.
'.You see thissis her last night" he
explained. "1t was said that her en-
gagement was up, but she was persuad
ed to appear once more. And [ should
think it must be temptation. She
earns fabulous sums, !. am told, for q
woman. -
Carl sat silent through all this, hi:
handsome face immobile What he
thought of the coarse people around us
of the extraordinary toiIettes of the
ude girls who giggled and maneuvred
to catch the eye of such remarkably
handsome man of the stale odors /; o.
the cerulean lake upon the curtain
which lacked the enchantment of dis
tance, and showed crude and coarse
of the gamboge sky and the two blotch
es of purple that were meant for noun
tains, / could not guess, for he neither
looked at me nor spoke. l think that
Miss Aubusson's face came between him
and all these things, supplantiDg theil
dreariness by her glorious beauty.
AS l sat thinking that this was oul
first contact with things of this sort, 6
ravishingly, sweet melody stole out, low
delicate, sinuous, aerial, stillipg every
breath, alluring the pulsing through te
silence, beguiling the senses, flowing
now into subtle, silver waves that rose
and fell, and rose and fell, like pelluc
i'd waters upon some charmed shore
and rising falling, swaying upon thai
thread of honeyed melody, borne as the
wave bears the forth upon its bosom
the ddnseuse-not a woman, but fairy
no fairy, but embodied music-hel
transparent, snowy drapery halcing hel
like cloud, her lily face shining ouI
of mist of golden hair, and so at last
when the eye and the ear are encf ain
ed, drifting toward the footlights, and
bending in graceful obeisance before
the hundreds of adoring faces.
"Grcat God !''
The smothered cry lenped all uu=
wares from Carl's lips.
The girl grew white as the laces that
covered her throbbing heart, and the
dark, intense eyes fell as by some ir-
resistible allHrement upon us.
1t was Miss Aubusson-i s-
| There, under that storm of coarse ap-
plause, the target for those bold eyes,
her exquisite grace, her rare beauty on
exhibition, profaned by the gaze Of all
the world, sold for money
A moment she bent before the won
dering people, nothing alive about the
white, rigid face except the luminous
fasoinated yes fixed upon Carl then
all at once, as the scene swan before
our intense gaze, she seemedi to melt
away from sight, sinking to the floor
in d snowy mist.
Carl sprung to his feet, There was
a quick, frightened cry from behind
the scenes, a SHOUT of alarm in the thea
ire, and the curtain went swiftly down
upon the excited, tumultuous audience
1 held Carl's hand fast. It shool
like leaf. He did not seem 20 hea
me- L was quite forgotten.
"Don't goI" .entreated. "Yor
zould net leave me! Wait ! We shal