American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-04-19
Miscellany.
THE DUEL TO THE DEATH.
An ACTORS STORY.


An ACTORS STORY.
THE Theater Royal, Barnchester, was
prosperous establishment at the time nov
many years ago, when l was a member OF
its company, and when the tragic even
occurred in which was most unwittingly
concerned By the aid of a strong corps
dramatique, backed up by London stars
the business for several seasons was main
tanned in f1ourishing condition. In those
days was supposed to be learning the
art which l have long since abandoned
and to which took well; it matters moth
ing to my story why l took it. Many a
young fellow has, in his early days, strut
ted and fretted for his hour upon the
stage, and then fortunately for himself and
others, been heard no morei
Our manager was also our stage mana
ger, and in these capacities was more sue
cessful than in that of an actor, in which
vocation he nevertheless labored He was
always very civil to me; indeed, he was
always very civil to everybody, and we
got on capitally together. 1t may. there.
fore, seem unreasonable to say that | never
liked him, but SUCH Notwithstanding, was
the case. Despite his general popularity
with his company, arising chiefly, | be-
lieve, by the punctuality which he observ-
ed in all his payments, l fancied / saw a
sinister expression in his eye, and sup
pressed tone of savagcry In his manner
when ruff1ed, which betrayed a nature I'LL
safe to arouse to enmity, and capable of
nourishing the direst feeling of revenge
/ believe my suspicious were finally veri-
fed; Heaven forgive me if l wrong him
but the circumstances which eventually
led to the termination of my career as an
actor will forever, in my mind, go far to
justify the prejudice with which he inspir-
ed me, for they gave birth to conviction,
which have never been able to over
come, and, right or wrong, l shall see in
it to the end of my days the reason WHY.
as with the instinct of dumb animal, |
disIiked him from the first moment we
met.
Life behind the scenes of a country thea
ter is not, perhaps, very refined. Much
that is Objectionable, of course, is to be
found there; but, at the same time, much
that is honest, Woodworking, sincere, and
kind-hearted; and l am safe in asserting
that these virtues, and many more, were
combined in the person of Julia Hal
worth, our leading young lady, a clever,
graceful novice, who was struggling hard
to maintain her widowed mother and three
younger sisters, and, if possible, to avoid
bringing the latter into profession with
the drawbacks of which she was so well
acquainted Nevertheless, her task was
not easy; her salary was small, and she
had the greatest difficulty in eking out her
resources. 1t is not wonderful, therefore,
that she was, by degrees, induced to listen
to the avowals of devotion made to -her by
Mr.. Cougar, our manager. He was old
enough to be her father, but he was in a
position to place her as his wife in COM
parative comfort, for, unlike most men of
and was supposed to be well off. There
was a whisper that he had not been over
scrupulous in the way he had made his
money. A little privateering during the
latter days of the great war, and since
then some successful smuggling transac-
tions had, it is said, contributed largely to
the wealth he had recently embarked in a
venture theatrical, for which, like many
sailor he had a strong prediction, a Ger
tain similarity existing between the man
agement of ship and that of theatre
l could see that much maternal pressure
was used to induce Miss Halworth to rec
ognize the advantages of home such as
Cougar could give her, but could also
see that, if she did so, it would be at great
personal sacrifice, for not only did she
seem TO share my own repugnance to
the man, increased probably on her part
by the disparity of their years, but l
strongly suspected there was an attach
ment elsewhere. OF this, indeed, l was
eventually convinced, and although /
never knew precisely what had passed, the
prologue of my tragedy had shaped itself
briefly into something of this kind.
She had been induced to take up the no.
bic art Of acting by watching the success
full career of young fellow named Bernal
RutherstOne, whom she had known from
childhood, and whose efforts for his family
were akin to those she was making for her
own. After winning a fair reputation in
the provinces, he had made a verv favor
able impression on the London public, and
by degrees had gained considerable fame
His progress had been very carefully
not ed, step by step, by Julia Halworth
and, added to her own natural love for the
art, had inspired her with a determination
to devote herself to the stage with the
hopes of winning equal renown. l imag-
ned-nay, l was surc-there had been on
Ger side some deeper feelings involved !;
bI.. probably with him it had been only a
boy and girl filtration, which had died
away, leaving no mark, for they had not
met for several years, and knew they did
not correspond. Nevertheless he was the
hero of her life; his doings, his successes,
formed the one theme on which she was
never tired of expatiating.
When, therefore, it was announced that
Mr. Kutherstone was coming to play
engagement at our theater, bringing with
him new play in which he had met with
tremendous success in London, Miss Hal
worth did not hesitate to express her joy
at the prospect of meeting her old friend,
and of being able at last not only to see
him act, but to act with him. This june
ture of affairs happened just at the time
she was weighing in her mind the answer
she was to give to our managers proposals,
and it was then that the doubt and per
plcxity with which she viewed them came
under my notice. On the one hand she
saw herself bound to a man to whom she
had antipathy, but who would immediate
Iy relieve her from the anxiety which the
care of her mother and sisters entailed
upon her for Cougar had not failed to
avail himself of the strong argument which
her affection for her family placed in his
hands,; and, on the other, freedom, not
only to pursue her art with the hope of
achieving a great London reputation, but
to indulge in the dream that it might not
always be upon the stage alone that she
would have to play the heroine of domes-
tic drama, with Bernal Rutherstone for its
hero.