American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-04-19
VOL. XXIII.

| HaiwOrth, a selfish, lndolent woman, VINO
congratulating herself on the comfort tina
would accrue to her from her daughter
marriage, quite lost sight of the fact tina
Cougar was not altogether disinterested
and had no intention of Julia's leaving tn
stage. for he was fully aware of her capac
ity, and knew he should be making no bat
Investments by diverting her future earn
ings into his own pocket.
Il think YOU would do well, Mrs Hal
WORTH somewhat to check your daughter
outspoken admiration of Mr.. Rutherstone
me was announced this morning that She
had ever been acquainted with him. 1t i:
scarcely becoming for any young lady tt
express her predictions in such glowing
TERMS but you can understand that it is pc
culiarly unpleasant for me to hear hel
when the delicate nature of our present re
lations are considered She said but now
that it was the cherished dream of her life
some day to play the heroineto his heroes
and that directly he had heard she was to
do SO here he had written to her, reclaim
| ing his old acquaintance, and reminding
her of their early hopes of some day form
| ing an alliance, which, at any rate behind
the footlights, should astOnish the world
Now, you know, loving her as l do. this
was not agreeable to my feelings, especially
when she promised 1 should have my an
/
orf3 about Mr.. Rutherstone, she again puts
| me off and declares she cannot decide in
! so much haste. She has tortured me al
ready long enough, and this coincidence is,
| to my mind, very significant"
Oh. dear, dom think anything of that
kind, Mr.. Cougar; l am sure you have no
cause to be anxious. She must make up
her mind; she promised me she would
yield to your wishes. and this enthusiasm
about her old friend is only part of that
which she shows on all matters concerning
her profession. 1t is true, that in better
DAYS, during my husbands lifetime, as
children, Julia and Mr.. Rutherstope knew
each other, and were constantly playing at
acting, but they have not met for years,
and this letter am quite sure Is the first
my daughter has ever had from him. II
is chiefly about some stage directions,
dresses and hints he wants her to attend to !;
you shall see"
well, WE'LL it may be so, but l shall
keep my eyes open when they meet, and
must warn you that 1 will not be tri1ed
with. If see anything to justify the sus-
picion which her conduct has suddenly
aroused, wash my hands of the whole
affair, l withdraw my proposals, and L
leave you to your present life of perjury.
Meanwhile, caution her, and exercise
your authority by compelling her to make
her CHOICE
This much of the conversation l volun-
tarily overheard one evening, whilst
standing at the wing waiting for my cue,
the speakers being merely separated from
me by the canvas of the scene, but it was
sufficient to make me also keep my eyes
open when Bernal Rutherstone arrived.
This he did in few days, and rehearsals
of new play in five acts. called The Duel
to the Death, were Immediately entered on.
1t is unnecessary for my purpose to refer
to any but the one great scene, the sensa-
ton, as it would be called, Of the piece. 1t
is the story that grows out of the story of
the drama that l am concerned with-the
real tragedy evolved by the mimic one.
The plot was long and gloomy, culmi-
Mating in the situation from which the
play took its name, in which the hero is
shot at the very moment his mistress, too
late to avert the fatal bullet, rushes for
ward and falls across her lovers lifeless
form. Upon this climax to the fourth act
the act-drop descends. In London the
great success of the drama had arisen from
the reality and care with which this
scene had been rendered, and an i'm
mensity of time and pains was therefore
spent at our theater in order to do it equal
justice. The whole extent of the stage
was occupied by an elaborate "set," rep
resenting secluded glen.
Principals and seconds arrive, certain
pacific OvertureS are made by the blame
less combatant, one Mark Mayburn, and
rejected by the villain Houndsfoot, who is
the cause of the contest. Not only does
he refuse to listen to them, but insists that
it shall indeed be "a duel to deathr' So
it is settled that lots are to be drawn for
the first shot, which is to be twelve PAGES;
this falls to Houndsfoot; in the event of
his missing he who is fired at (AIayburn)
then steps forward one pace, and delivers
his fire. If this, in its turn, be unsuccessful,
the duelist who had first fired then steps up
another pace and delivers his second shot.
Then, gradually reducing the distance,
and alternately firing, the chances are sup
posed to be equaliZed, and the two enemies
brought closer and closer together.
Cool and bloodthirsty deliberation marks
the conduct of both. Three shots have
been delivered on either side, but only two
have taken effect. One has slightly
by himself, has knocked the pistol from
his antagonists hand. A great point was
to be made of this incident, and of the re-
newed efforts of the seconds to bring
about peaceful arrangement. The blood
of both principals, however, is too much
aroused, and Mark Mayburn, now equally
insisting on its being "a duel to the DEATH
pistols are reloaded, ground is again taken
up, and in horrible proximity to each other
the duelists prepare for their last encoun
ter. The word is given, in another minute
all is over, and Mayburn, with bullet
through his heart, falls to the ground, just
as the luckless heroine enters, as I have
described
1t was my fate to be cast for the part of
HoundsfOOt, while, of course, Mr.. Ruther-
stone played that of Mark. We had never
met before, but soon understood each
other, and l willingly fell into his new
little caprices about the business of our
scenes together. We went through the
duel over and over again, according to the
stage directions of the London theater,
carefully arranging our relative positions,
and so disposing everything to bring
out the points of the incidents and the
dialogue with the most dramatic effect. |
need not go into these in detail; the final
one, to which everything gradually work
ed up, is sufficient. We started from the
opposite corners of the stage, SO az to give
the greatest appearance of space; thus the
fatal shot was fired in the most conspiclI-
GUS part of the boards.
AT the first rehearsals we, of course only
snapped our pistols at each other and our
seconds merely went through the motions
and time of reloading the pair with which
we both were supplied; but as ii was neces-
sary at last to carry out actually what was
to be done at nj ght, we went through the
firing, and much powder was burned and
noise created ere Rutherstone expressed
himself contented with the way in which
the business went and the scene was acted.
At first, in firing at him, especially when
we came to close quarters, | used to point
the pistol well over his head, according to
the usual practice in such cases, for the