The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1869-02-18
OFFTHE STAGE.
Adventures of an Actor.


Nine. de Florac rcjoiced at the age O
twenty two in that condition which i
the delight of French women-she wa
a widow. She had married at an earl,
age, in compliance with her father ant
father-in-law's decree, and had beer
neither happy nor miserable during til,
two years that her union had lasted.
NJ. de Florac had been so unimport
and in her existance that, aftrc the bus
tly incident to his funeral, the reading
OF the will, and the wearing of morning
she was very often obliged to think
twice, to remember distinctly whether
he was dead or alive.
Mime. dc Florac was Of most afIcc.
ti"nate disposition, was most romanti.
c. inclined, pretty, and rich besides
which, though not romantic in itself,
is not unpleasant, and permits of ro-
nance being INDUCED in without any
very fatal consequences.
AS soon AS the year of morning lad
expired, Nine de Florac began at once
to indulge her love for the amuscments
of the world, from which she had been
debarred by her seclusion, and which
she had hitherto never enjoyed but in
the tedious company of he. common
place husband.
Scarcely, however, did she reappear in
the Faubourg, before suitorS presented
themselves for the hand of the young
widow; and grave matrons, on proprie-
ty intent, limited that Nine. Florac was
over young to go about the world
uIuuc.
But Clara de Florac resolved that nei-
ther suitors nor gossips should force her
into humdrum marriage like the one
she had experienced, which might have
the dissagrecable difference of lasting
for life, instead of for two years.
Clara had resolved, if she married
again, she would marry for love. She
had read a great deal; the sublime SEN
timcntality of Lamartine's poetry; Bal
zac and Sand she knew by heart: ana
she thought it very hard if, when these
authors portraye ed so many ardent pas
sions and never ending attachments as
pictures of actual life, she could not,
with her youth, good looks and good in
tentions, stumble upon some hero who
should invest life with charm for her
which she had dreamed of but as yet
knew nothing.
In her own circle she waited and
watched, and allowed herself TO be WOO
ed; but everything was done in such a
refined, matter of fact way, terminating
ny the exhibition of Il rent roll, aud an
ofler OF marriage through her nearest of
kin, that Clara Indignantly turned
away from all with disappointment and
despair.
One evening, Clara, who had just had
another illusion d:spellcd by PROPOSE
ton of marriage from man she had
seen but twice, aud who had dwelt up-
Oh the fitness of fortune and position.
and had never mentioned hearts, in a
fit of weariness and,discontent with her
self and all the world, determined sud
de My not to go to the ball for which she
was preparing TO dress; and, sick of the
sameness of the great world, decided on
sending for box at the Vaudeville.
where. she imagined, she would not
meet any of those who appeared indi-
rectly to control her actions.
An aunt of her husband. who chapcr-
oned the young widow everywhere, was
her only escort; and, in the simplest toi-
let, Clara reclined in one corner of the
box, intent upon forgetting all in the
enjoyment ofthe play, particularly as
on looking round, she could not discov-
er single face that she had seen be-
fore.
AT last the curtain rose. The play
was one OF those modern pieces in
which intense passion is woven into
the commonplace events Of life, and Cla.
ra's attention was attracted toward it at
once. From the play her sympathies
went to the hero; and certainly no hero
could have been better represented than
by the actor, whose face, form and voice
were all calculated to arrest attention.
and to fascinate and charm.
Clara looked for his name, it was O.
-. She had never heard it before, but
she repeated it to herself frequently, and
on her return home that evening, every
word and intonation, every look and
every attitude. were recalled in the soli-
tude of her boudoir.
The following evening Clara went
again to the Vaudeville, and the next,
till the placid and usually unmurmur-
ing aunt began to venture to complain