Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1889-11-09
TAKEN By siege.

80 much the better" replied the edi-
tor "You will give US fresh views Of o
hackneyed subject. l quite envy you
your new sensations Get your copy in
~ early as possible. and good luck to
you.
Rush was about the first person tor ar
rive at the ball. and the Academy looked
gloomy enough He had been told that
the festivities did not begin until late, so
he arrived at o'clock, thinking that
that would be about the fashionable
hour There was not q woman in the
place, and the only men on hand were
the floor managers. He had plenty Of
time for reflection before the ball opened,
and for the sake of the associations he
wandered about behind the scenes. The
stage and parquet were boarded over,
but the prima donnas room was undis-
turbed. He looked in and sighed. A
perfume Of violets fingered on the air,
and he sighed again as he recognized it,
and then wandered to the front, where a
room had been reserved for the press.
A large table stood in the center, fur
nished with paper, pens and ink. There
were great many bottles on the table.
but they did not all contain ink, or any
thing that looked like it.
He sat down and took q pen, and
thought to improve the time by writing
to his mother; but, as he could say moth
ing about John, he concluded not to.
Instead. he wrote "Helen Knowlton"
over three or four sheets Of foolscap, in
every variety Of penmanship, and then
tore the paper into fine bits. But, still
fearful that the name might be discov-
cred. he made little pile of the scraps
and burned them, watching their de-
struction with an expression of counte-
nance not at all in keeping with the
spirit of a masked ball. He shook his
head sadly. "a mans hopes may be as
easily destroyed as that paper" he said
to himself, as he blew the ashes from the
table. Then he sauntered out into the
lobby.
There he found very different scene
from the one he had left. Men and women
were crowding into the place as fast as
the man at the wicket could take their
tickets. Most Of the men were in even
ing dress, but all the women wore DOM
inoes and masks. There were few who
eppeared in fancy dress, but they were
she German members of the society.
Rush was too young and too enthusi-
astic not to find excitement in the scene,
and when the dancing began he thought
he had never witnessed anything so
brilliant and intoxicating as tho move
ment Of these many colored dominoes to
the music of the band. As time wore
on. the place became more crowded, and
Rush recognized among the men many
faces that had become familiar to him at
the opera and elsewhere. There was
Uncle Lightfoot Myers renewing his
youth, with pink domino on his arm;
and there was West Hastings lounging
against one of the pillars Of the balcony
and chatting q Columbine. Rush won
dered what Helen Knowlton would think
if she%saw her friend thus engaged. His
thoughts were broken in upon by voice
at his elbow:
my handsome young friend" said q
blue domino, taking his arm, "why do
you pose in this melancholy attitude on
so festive an occasion? This is Romeo's,
not Hamlet's, night. Let us walk about
among the giddy revelers. Iwant to see
more cheerful expression on your
young face"
AS they walked out into the lobby,
Rush racked his brain to recognize the
voice or figure of the mask. His ex-
preston showed that he was puzzled.
"Ah. you do not recognize me-" she
said, "How sad that makes me feell A
little disguise and ones identity is gone.
should have known you through twen-
ty DISCUSSES" And she turned her mask
up ut him in the most bewitching man.
ner.
Certainly have never had the pleas
ure of hearing that voice before-no man
could forget so sweet thing" said Rush,
entering readily into the spirit Of the
ball And so they thrust and parried,
until his mask spied spry old man with
gray side whiskers and bald head,
when she dropped Rush's arm as sud-
denly rs she had taken it, and took the
other by the hand.
"Dear general, am so glad to see you!
hANC DCCh iOohhiS AOA w eAA eAAo S'Sh-
ing, and feared you were not coming"
The general looked pleased, though
puzzled; but this was not his first masked
ball. and in few moments Rush saw
him moving of in the direction Of the
supper room, the blue domino hanging
affectionately upon his arm.
Before the night was over, Rush
learned much of the ways Of masked
balls, and came to the conclusion that
the blue domino was an entirely new
acquaintance Of his and of the generals.
As he started for the press room. he met
his city editor with Swiss peasant girl
on his arm. "Hello, Hurlstone," said
he. And. stopping moment, he whis-
pered, "Get your copy down early, and
then have your fun. You can write it
out here and send It down." And he,
too, passed on in the direction Of the
supper room.
Rush hardly recognized the press