Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-10-09

tefS IN town, - BOOth'S, Wallack'S,
Daly's Fifth Avenue (not burn. down
them, and the Grand Opera House Even
the shabby homes Of the drama over in
the Bowery, where the Germanic Thes-
plus has not taken out his naturalization
papers, underwent rigid exploration. But
no clew was found to Van Twiller's mys-
terioEs attachment. The opera bo,1fe,
which promised the widest field for inves-
tigation, produced absolutely nothing, not
even crop of suspicious. One night,
after several weeks Of this, Delaney and l
tancled we caught glimpse of Van Twill
Ter in the private box of an up town the
ater, where some thrilling trapeze per-
formance was going on, which we did not
care to sit through; but we concluded af-
terwards it was only somebody that look
ed like him. Delaney, by the way, was
unusually active in this search l dare
say he never quite forgave Van Twiller
for calling him Muslin Delaney. Ned is
fond of ladies' society, and that's fact
The Cimmerian darkness which sur
rounded Van Twiller's inamorata left us
free to indulge in the widest conjectures.
Whether she was black-tressed Melpo-
meme, with bowl and dagger, or Thalia,
with the fair hair and the laughing face,
was only to be guessed at 1t was popu-
IdI ~ SouCCttbi HO"tNci, iUdl ' Gu WllleI
was on the point of forming dreadful
nlesaLliaRce.
Up to this period he had visited the
club regularly. Suddenly he ceased to
appear. lie was not to be seen on Broad
way, or in the Central Park, or at the
houses he generally frequented. His
they were-on Thirty fourth street, were
lpcartal IrnnnoI = ~
world, shot like a bright particular star
from his orbit in the heaven of the best
society
Where's Van Twiller?"
"Who's seen Van Twiler?"
"What has become of Van Twiller?n
Delaney picked up the EUentng Post,
and read, with a solemnity that betrayed
young Firkins into exclaiming, ''By Jove
now ~
Married, on the 10th instant, by the
Rev. Friar Laurence, at the residence of
the brides uncle, Montague Capulet, Esq,
Miss AdrienRe LIE Couvreur to Mr.. Ralph
Van Twiller, both of this city. No
cards"
at strikes me-" said Frank Living
stone, who had been ruffiing the leaves of
a magazine at the other end of the table,
that you fellows are in a great fever
about Van Twiller."
$50 we are"
"Well, he has simply gone out of
town"
"Where?"
"Up 10 the old homestead on the Hud-
SON"
It's an odd time of year for fellow
to 90 into the country"
He has gone to visit his mother" said
Livingstone.
an F'ebruary?"
statute in force prohibiting a man from
visiting his mother in February if he
wants to-"
Delaney made some light remark about
the pleasure Of communing with Nature
with a cold in her head, and the topic
was dropped.
Livingstone was hand in glove with
Van Twiller, and if any man shared his
confidence it was Livingstone. He was
aware of the gossip and speculation that
had been rife in the club, but he either
was not at liberty, or did not think it
worth while, to relieve our curiosity. In
the course of a week or two it was report
ed that Van Twiller was going to Europe;
and 90 he did. A dozen of US went down
to the Scotia to see him off. 1t was re
freshing to have something as positive as
the fact that Van Twiller had sailed
Shortly after Van Twiller's departure
the whole thing came out. Whether Liv-
ingstone found the secret too heavy bur
den, or whether it uanspired through
some indiscretion or the part of Mrs
Nanrensselaer Vanzandt Van Twiller,
cannot say; but one evening the entire
story was in the possession of the club.
Van Twiller had actually been very
deeply interested--not in an actress, for
the legitimate drama was not her humble
walk in life, but--in Mademoiselle
Olvmpe Zabriski, whose really perIlous
feats on the trapeze had astonished New
York the year before, though they had
failed to attract Delaney and me the
night we wandered into the uptown thea
ter on the trail of Van Twiller's mystery
That man like Van Twiller should be
fascinated for an instant by a common
circus-girI seems incredible; but it is al
ways the incredible thing that happens
Besides, Mademoselle Olympic was not
common circus-girl; she was most dar-
ing and startling gymnaSte, with a beauty
and grace of movement that gave to her
audaciOus performance almost an air OF
prudery. Watching her wOndrous deX-
terity and plant strength, both exercised
without apparent effort, it seemed the
most natural proceeding in the world
that she should do these objectionable
things. She had way of melting from
one graceful posture into another, like
the dissolving figures thrown from a
stereopticon. She was like a 1.-the, radi-
ant shape out of the Grecian mythology,
now poised up there above the gas-llghts,
and now cleaning through the air like
slender gilt arrow
| am describing Mademoiselle Olympic
as she appeared to Van Twiller
on the first occasion when he strolled into
the theater where she was performing.
To me she was girl of eighteen or TWEEN
tv wears of age (maybe she was much
Older, for pearl-powder and distance
keeps these people perpetually youngG
slightly but eXquisitely built, with sin
ewS of silver wire; rather pretty, per
haps, after manner, but showing plainly
the effects of the exhaustive drafts she
was making on her physical vitality.
Now, Van Twiller was an enthusiast on
the subject of calisthenics. eff | had a
daughter" Van TWiller used to say, II
wouldn't send her to a boarding school
or a nunnery; I'd send her to a
gymnasium for the first five years.
Cur American women have no physique.
They are lilies, palid, pretty and perisha-
BILE You marry an American woman,
and what do you marry? a headache.
Look at English girls. They are at least
roses and last the season throuuh -