The Penn's Grove record., 1885-08-29

sured me by his account of Mr.. Black

'bOdJ Tue affair suOuiu We lOl SOGttIi.
He was most civil to me, and, when
your message arrived, saying you were
too unwell to attend, he expressed his
regrets quite in an ordinary way. He
is gong to play Othello magnificently
too; / could see that even al the first
rehearsal, although the scenes with
Desdemona were omitted this morning..
Old Costing is in a tremendous state of
excitement; nearly all the seats for the
best part of the house are booked al
ready for Blackburn's benefit, and they
expect to have to turn half-a-doZen rows
of the pit into stalls. Just think of
that at the Theatre Royal Altonl |
hear too that the mayor and corpora
ton is coming in a body, as a sort of
official demonstration of their respect
and admiration for him. There is no
doubt he has become a great favOrite
here; and no wolder-he is certainly u
fine uctorl Another report which is
going about, which is still more inter-
esting to us, Is that Mr.. Seaman is COM
ing from London to see the performance.
| expect he has heard of you and Black
burn; wouldn't it be delightful if he
engaged you for his grand autumn re-
vlval of OthellO at the Royal7 | should
positively go down on my knees to him
to take,me also. So, darling, you must
cheer up, and determine to make a brill
liant success as Desdemona.'
We had the day to ourselves, so as
TO be quite fresh for the evening Of the
benefit, and | went down to the theatre
feeling better and less a~pprehensive
than l had expected. George, who
| played Casio, came and knocked at
my dressing DOL door before the cur
tain rose, that be might inspect me in
the new dress | had bought to do honor
to the occasion.
"'You are lovely he said-'rather
too pale perhaps. Can't you heighten
your color a little2'
Ono, said l, Il cannot. Whatever
1 do, it appears to me l look CHASTITY
THAT'S absurdl' said George laugh
ing. 4 thought you were only a trife
pale; but perhaps 1t is more interesting
Heaven bless you, my darlingl A great
deal may depend upon tonight for us
both; do yourself justice-that is all |
ask
HE kissed me and we went to the
stage together. Mr.. Blackburn was on
the stage when we reac ed it, and i'm
mediately advanced toward us.
"'Good luck, , said he-'good luck to
you bothl This will be a night you
will remember as long as you liye-as
long as you live he repeated impress
sively.
"He turned away, and George said
"'How we'll he looksl Thank good
ness he seems quite himself againP
"The play commenced. Mr.. Black
burn had a magnificent reception, and
seemed determined to surpaSs himself
At last came the scene in which Desde-
mona appears.
"sNow,' SAID Iago, who was wait
ing for the cue to take me on-'now
comes the tug of wall If he is all right
with you it must be an enormous sue
cess. Why, you are %nervousl' he adj
ded, taking my icy hand. Cheer up;
you are quite safep
THE moment arrived which aston
ished everybody but me. Far from be-
ing apathetic. Blackburn electrified us.
His acting with Des1emona was pro-
nounced on all sides to be perfect, and
| myself was almost frightened by his
earnestness. There was a tremendous
recall at the end of the act, which we
acknowledged together, his hand burn
ing more and more.
1.-THE second act went well until the
entrance of Othello. To my intense
alarm. the embrace when Othello and
Desdemona meet was so genuine that |
almost tainted. l need not tell you
that kisses are not considered allowable
on the stage; imagine my horror when
he kissed me again and again, his lips
almost scorching mine. | should have
fallen had he not held me so tightly.
when we were Off the stage, l
turned to reprove him for the insult he
had offered me; but there was such a
look of malignant joy on his face that
the words froze on my lips, and l hur-
ried away from HIM. Heaven help
mel thought !. How shall / get
through the remaining three acts? He
surely must be intoxicatedP
"Tn my next scene with Cassieo he
stood close to the stage and watched us
and | saw him muttering to himself.
Once | walked close to where he stood,
to find if l could hear what he was say
ing; to my terror, he was repeating
again and again, with his eyes fixed on
George and me-
''For the last time, for the last time!'
directly l had an opportunity, |
sent for George, and said | did not
think the play ought to proceed, for |
was certain there was something wrong
with Mr.. Blackburn.
"'Wrongl' said George. l have never
saaO sucb aotinu i'm nv lfnp
"'Then | told him all that had oc-
CURED and he only laughed at my
fears.
SIT seems to me you have got into
such a nervous condition that you ex-
aggerate everything, 1 have talked to
him a good deal tonight, and he has
been most pleasant, asking when we are
going to be married, hoping that ouI
good fortune may date from tonight,
and all sorts of kind things
"'But cannot you see that all this is
not natural?' cried l. 1T alarms me
dreadfully, believe he has some fear
full scheme in his headp
"'What scheme can he have my dear
Kate? Don't think me unkind or I'M
sympathetic; but you really must strug-
gle against this feeling-you are letting
it get quite an upper hand of you, You
need never have anything 10 do with
him again, but tonight you must &c
through with your character
II said no more, but determined
that. happen what might, l would
make no further complaint. My reso.
luton failed me at the end of the fourth
act, Mr.. Blackburn's acting had been
exceedingly violent, and | was bruised
my the manner in which he flung me
on the floor. This violence was alter
mated with the most demonstrative af-
lection. l could endure it no longer
and had sent for Mr.. Gosling, when l
came upon Blackburn standing in a
brown study, in n of the entrances.
He was again muttering to himself.
but this time he was feeling the edge
of the dagger which formed part of his
dress. l tried to get past without at
tracing his attention; but my clothes
caught on a nail in the scene. and he
saw me. He stared guilty, and hasti'
lv returned the dagger to its sheath,