The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1873-10-09

lhlS trightlul idea fascinated while i
chilled him, and helped to make ii nearly
impossible for him to keep away from the
! theatre. In the beginning his attendance
had not interfered with his social duties
or pleasures but now he came to find il
dlstastetul after dinner to do ANYTHING but
read, OF walk the street aimless unless il
was time to 60 to the play When that
was over, he was in no mood to 90 any
where but to his rooms. So he dropped
away by insensble degrees from his ha-
bitual haunts, was missed, and began to be
talked about at the club Catching some
lntimation Of this, he yentured no more in
the orchestra stalls. but shrouded himself
behind the draperies of the private box
in which Delaney and | thought we saw
him on one occasion.
Now find il very perpleNing to explain
what Van Twiller was wholly unable to
explain to himself He was not in love
with Mademoiselle Olympic He had no
wish to speak to her or to hear her speak
! Nothing could have been easier, and moth
ing further from his desire, than to know
her personally A Van Twiller personal
y acquainted with a strolling female aero
bat Good heavens, That was something
possible only with the discovery of per-
petual motion. Taken from her theatri-
cal setting, from her lofty perch, so to say
on the trapezc-bar. and Olympic Zabriski
would have shocked every arstocratic f.
bre in Van Twiller's body He was sim
| ply fascinated by her marvellous grace
and clan, and the magnetic recklessness
OF the girl. ltWas very Young in him and
very weak, and no member of the Sorosis,
on all the Sorosisters together, could have
been more severe on Var Twiller than he
| was on himself 10 be weak and to know
1t. Is something of u punishment to u
| proud man Van 1'willel took his punish
mcnt and Went to the theatre regularly.
When the engagement comes to an
cnd' he metlitatcd, ''that will finish the
/ business
Mademoiselle Olympe's engagement
finally did come to an end, and She de
| parted. But her engagement had been
highly beneficial To the treasllry-chest of
| the uptown theatre, and before Van Twill
len could get over missing her, She had
returned from u short western tour and
her immediate re-appearancr was under
| lined on the play-billS.
On 4 dead-wall opposite the windows
Of Van TwilIer's sleeping room there APP
peared, rs if by magic, an aggressive
poster with Mademoiselle Olympic Zabris-
HI on il in letters at least foot high. This
thing stared him in the face when he woke
up one morning 1t gave him a sensation
| aS if she had called on him over night,
and left her card
From time to time through the ,Iay he
regarded that poster with a s,rdonic eye
He had pitilessly resolved not to repeat
the folly Of the previous month 10 say
that this moral victory cost him nothing
would be to deprive il Of merit 1t cost
him many an internal struggle. 1t is a
fine thing to see a man seizing his temp
tation by the throat, and wrestling with
il, and trampling il under foot, like st
Anthony. This was the spectacle Van
'Iwiller Was exhibiting to the angels
The evening Malemoisclle was to make
her c-arpcarancr, Van Twiller having
dMcd at the club and feeling more like
himself than he had felt for weeks, return
ed to his chamber, and putting on dress
ing-@oWn and slippers, piled up the great
er part OF his library about him, and fell
to reading a@SidunuSly There is nothing
like Il quiet evening at home with some
slight intellectual occupations, after ones
feathers have been Strokcd the wrong
| WAY.
Whcrr the lively French clock on the
mantle-shpli-a base Of malachite sur
mounted by a flying bronze Mercury with
its arms spread gracefully on the air, and
not remotely suggestive of Mademoiselle
Olympic in the act Of executing her grand
| flight from the trapeze-when the clock
| | repeat, struck nine, Van Twiler paid
no attention 10 it. That was certainly a
| triumph. am anxious to render Van
| Twillcr all the uStice | can, at the point
Of the narrative, inasmuch as when the
halt-hour sounded mUlscally like Il crvs-
tai ball dropped into a silver bowl, he
| rose from the char automatically, thrust
| his feet into his walking shoes threw his
| oycrcoat across his arm and strobe ont of
| the room.
TO be weak and to Scorn Your weakness
and not to be able to conquer it. is, as has
been said, Il hard thing; and suspect it
was not with .;nalloyed satisfaction that
Van Twiller found himself taking his seat
in the back part Of the private box night
after night during the second engagement
of Mademoisellc Olympic II was 50 easy
not to stay away.
In this second edition ot Van Twiler's
| L.
He not only thought OF Olympic quite Il
number of times between breakfast and
dinner. he not only attended the interlude
regularly, but he began in spite of HIM
self, to occupy his leisure hours at night
bv dreaming of hcr This was too much
OF good thing, and Van Twillcr regard
ed it 50 Besides, the dream was always
the same, q narrowing dream, a dream
| .,,I,,,taI T., 81, h.,
nerves Of mal like Van Twller. He
would imagine himself seated at the thea
ire (with all the men bers of our club in
the parIuette), watching Mademoiselle
Olympe as usual, when suddenly that
Young lady would launch herself despe-
ratcly from the trapeze, and come flying
through the ri like a firebrand hurled at
| his private box. Then the unfortunate
man would wakeup with cold drops stand
ing on his forehead
There is one redeening feature in this
int:,tnation of Van Twiler's which the So
Der moralist will love to look upon the
serene Inconsistencies OF the person who
caused it. She Went through her 4olf
with admirable apIomb, drew her salary
it may be assumed punctually, and appears
from first to last to have been ignorant
tnaI llltfe was miserable save wearing
her chains nightly in the left tt-hand pros
cenium-boX
That Van 1Willer haunting the theatre
with the persistcncy Of an eN-actor con
Quoted himself 50 discreetly as not to draw
the fire OF MaIemoiselle Olympc's blue
eyes, shows that Van Twiller, however
deeply under a SPELL was not in love.
say this, though | think if Van Twillel
had not been Van Twiler if he had been
a man Of no family and no position and
no money, if New York had been Paris
and Thirty fourth street y street in tn.
Latin Quarter, but it is useless to specu
late on what might have happened. Wha
did happen is sufficient.
1t happened then in the second week o
Queen Olympic second unconscious reigl
that an appalling whisper tloated up th'
Hudson, affected a landing at point be
l tween Spuytcn Duyvel Creek and Cols
l Spring and sought out a stately mansion
OF Dutch architecture standing on th
5 bank of the river The whisper straight
1 WAY informed tho lady dUallinU in thi