The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-12-04
By HORSLEY BROS. & FIGUERs

jest of frolicsome burgher, he was per-
forming his role of the devil in the new
play.
In the first row of the orchestra seats
was the stranger of the gasthof, and at
each word uttered by Henri he shook
his head, winked his eyes, smacked his
tongue against his palate, and gave
tokens of impatience generally. 'Bad
bad p he muttered in an nndersene
His neighbors, astonished and shock
ed by his manner, applaud4d and said
"This gentleman is very hard to
At the end of the first act the stranger
rose, as if possessed of sudden resoIu-
| tion, walked over the big drum and the
cymbals, and disappeared through the
small door leading from the orchestra
on the stage.
Henri, waiting for the curtain to rise,
was pacing up and down behind the
scenes, and when he reached the end of
his short walk great was his terror when,
turning, he perceived before him, in the
middle of narrow passageWay, mys-
terious parsonage, dressed exactly like
himself, who gazed on him with eyes
the greenish transparency of which ap-
peared in the darkness to be of marvel
ous depth. Two rows of sharp, wide
set teeth impaired ferocious tinge to
his satirical smile.
It was impossible for Henri not to
recognize the stranger of the qasthOf of
the Double-headed Eagle, or, in other
words, the devil himself, for it was none
other. "Ah! ahl my little gentleman,
so you want to play the devil You
were only passable in the first act, and if
you continued you would really convey
too bad an impression of me to those
good Viennese people. You will allow
me to take your place this evening, and
as you might interfere with my move
ments, shall send you be ow."
Henri had recognized the angel of
darkness, and felt that he was lost; laying
his hand mechanically on Katy's little
cross, which he always had about him,
he endeavored to call for help, and to
murmur a formula of exorcism, but
terror rendered him helpless he could
only utter faint cry.
The devil touched Henri's shoulders
with his claw-like hands, and forced him
through the stage then his cue being
spoken, he walked on like a consum-
mate artist.
The decisive, sharp, venomous, and
truly diabolical performance first sur
prised the audience.
"With what life Henri enters into
his role this evening"" was heard in
every direction.
The most effective incident was the
bitter laugh, which sounded like the
filing of saw-the laugh of the damned
disappearing against the delights of
paradise. No actor had ever attained
an equal power of sarcasm, a like depth
of rascality. Men laughed and trem-
hled. The assemblage was breathless ;
phosphorescent sparks shot from the |
fingers of the terrible performer; lines
of fire shone under his feet the lights |
of the chandelier grew pale !; the foot |
lights burned red and green a pecu-
liarly sulphurous odor pervaded the |
house; the audience was almost deliri-
GUS, and thunders of frantic applause
followed each phrase of the wonderful
MephiStOlOheLes, who often substituted |
verses of his own framing for those of
the poet, a substitution ever felicitious
and ever accepted with delight.
Katy, to whom Henri had sent box,
was in state of great anxiety she
failed to recognize her friend Henri,
and had the vague presentiment of
with that spirit of divina-
ton which love, the second-sight of the
soul, bestows.
The representation ended amid indie
scribable enthusiasm. After the fall of
the curtain, MephiStOpheLeS was loudly
called for. They sought him in vain
but stage-hand told the manager that
Henri had been found under the stage,
where he had no doubt fallen throuoh
trap. Hen1i was unconscious. They
took him home, and when they un-
dressed him they discovered with sur
prise that there were deep scratches on
his shoulders, as though a tiger had
clasped him in his claws. Katy's little
cross had preserved him, however, from
death, and the devil, overcome by its
had been content to throw
him into the cellar of the theater.
Henri's recovery was slow. As soon
as he was convalescent he was offered
very lucrative engagement, but he did
not accept it, for he was not inclined to
risk, a second time, his salvation, and |
was, besides, aware that he could not
with the recollections of his
rival.
Two or three years later, having come
into possession of a small inheritance,
he married the fair Katy, and, sitting
together near a china stove in a small
and we'll closed parlor, they talked
over the future Of their children, as
they once had planned.
Theater-goers still speak with admira-
ton of that marvellous evening, and
were vastly surprised at Henri's caprice
in abandoning the stage just after
achieving SO great triumph.