The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1878-04-06

lc4J lue man uICH vi MS SuouiuOlo anu ba''
in. "All right" ho said, huffly. "sh
pays the fine, of course, and she runs tn,
risk of losing her engagement all for a bit o
babyish nonsense, but if she chooses to do it
she can. There are those who will mind i
more than l."
At these words the girl for the first tint
spoke:
cob, Mr.. Thompson, will 60, indeed
will. am better now," she said, eagerly
al don't think am sick. went through i
perfectly this evening. 1t is only the-thC
dress that frightens me. am not aocus
toned to it. don't seem to know mysel
in it; but suppose will get used to that
Imurmured pious "heaveh forbid" under
my breath, and then said aloud; "You arc
not to dance tonight. tell youy you are i'll
and ! will not allow it. | know it.
know your condition better than you do,and
know how your heart is plungng and
iluttering about quite as well, though it is in
your breast and not mine. As to the fine
Mr.. Thompson" l said turning to him.
"you and will settle that"
Mr.. Thompson, to his credit be it said, de-
clned to allow me to adjust this matter, say
ing he would see to that the next day when
he came to discuss the matter with the aunt
and guardian of Mademoiselle Marguerite.
In the meantime he notified her associates,
who began to stream out Of the dressing
rooms, that the first act was drawing to a
close, and the fifth scene, in which the bal
let feature is introduced was about to be
performed. A certain young woman among
them, airier, boder and more pirouettiSh than
the rest was notified, to her apparent salts
faction, that the post of primiere dahsuese
would devolve upon her instead of Mad
emoiselle Marguerite, as the bills had an
nounced, and the airy cavalcade of sylphs
and naiads hoated on to the stage. The
manager hurried off to superintend their
eatrce and Mademoiselle Marguerite and I
were left tete-a-tete. She looked gratefully
up at me from her refuge behind the big
shawl; but could see that there was quite
as much of fright and anxiety in her look as
gratitude and relief.
"Now, the thing for you to do" said,
"is to get home as soon as
possible. Where do you live?'
"In Hill street." she said.
Fortunately my professional experience
made this information ineligible to me,
which my social knowledge would certainly
not have done, so understood that she lived
a great way Off in very poor but respect
able locality.
"And how are you to get there ?" said.
"Tom was to come for me after the play"
"Who's Tom?" | asked.
"Only my cousin" she answered, in SO
meek and scared voice that divined that
my last inquiry had been put in rather an
ungcntle tone.
"And he's not to come until after the
play?" I went on, more aiably; "and
meanwhile you are sick and ought to be in
bed, instead of waiting here two hours for
Tom. Such child as you are, too. Why,
you ought to be in bed now. How old dre
you?'
y" Seventeen" )" she said, stoutly.
Hardly" I said, doubtfully "however,
you must get ready now. How do you and
Tom propose to get home? In the cars9'
No, always walk" she said.
This determined me.
"Go and change your dress now as soon
as ytu can" I said, "and wash your face, if
you don't want that stuff to poison you.
They need not have tricked you out in all
that. Couldn't they see that your skin was
far prcttier than any of their hideous arts
could make il? Come, little girl, hurry up,
l shall wait outside and sec you again"
l walked of as finished and she closed
the door behind me. Some were standing
about engaged in the numerous unsightly
causes which ere employed to produce har-
monious effects on the stage, and l walked
to the side Of the scenes and looked on at
the ballet from there. Goodnessl what a
pirouetting and chassueing and revolving
and kicking! I never cared for ballet,
and that night it positively disgustcd me.
Ho,g glad was that l had kept this little
modest daisy out it! What lucky thing
she had never been in il at all-that this
was her debut night l turned my back
upon the gauzy creatures and walked slowly
Off As did so the door opened and the
oddist little vision appeared How could
ten minutes have made such a Difference? /?
Instead of being red-cheeked, gauzy fairy,
with hall-clad limbs and gossamer wings,
saw pale, prini, dowdy little girl, dressed
in worn and shabby garments, with a wee,
sweet face looking gout from battered Shaker
bonnet, aud as poor-folksy and orphaned an
air as ever you saw behind a peanut stall at
a crossing.
could not help it. I laughed. You
would have laughed, too. Indeed, blush
to state that ! laughed quite loud but, TO
my qualification, instead Of being offended,
the child laughed too. Now that she WAS
"clothed and in her right mind" she was no
longer shy and constrained. Her agitation
had passed of, too, leaving her stronger and
better, and she gave me the brightest and