Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-01-29

| leads his princess to her place, when 1t is
 discovered that another lady is required to
 complete tho figure, and an aide-de-carnp is
 dispatched into tho ballroom to fetch one.
 He returns, ushering in tho beautiful uiida von Weissenstein.
 From this moment the audience lad been
 impatiently waiting, ani when the Gazziing
 ngure, in it's trailing, pearl embroidered robes appeared in the doorway of tho ball.
 room, a storm of applause broke forth again
 and again, and for somo minutes delayed the progress of the scene.
 Nothing, indeed, could have been better
 calculated than this opening to display the
 peculiar gifts of tho actress. The quadrille was a stately spectacular display, in which splendid dress and stirring music and the effects of rhythmic motion had been brought freely into play for the delight of the beho,d- CTS Between the figures there was q little skillfully managed action, mostly in dumb show. Tho movements of the jealous beauty
 and of her faithless lover were invested
 throughout with sufficient dramatic meaning
 to keep up the thread of the play. But it
 was not the dramatic aspect of the scene for which the audience cared, it was simply for the display which 1t made possible of Isabel Brethertons youth and grace and lovCliness. They hung upon her every movement, and
 Kendall found himself following her with the same eagerness of eyo cs those about him, lest any phase of that embodied poetry should escape him.
 In this introductory scene the clements which went to make up the spell she eXer cised over her audience were perfectly dis
 tinguishable. kendal's explanation of it to himself wcS that 1t was based upon an eX- ceptiooal natural endowment Of physical perfection, informed and spirituali.;ed by certain moral qualities, by simplicity, frank | ness, truth of nature. There kind of cfiluence of youth, of purity, Of strength about her which 1t was impossible not to feel,
 and which evidently reused the enthusiastic sympathy Of the great ma jority of those who saw her.
 Forbes was sitting in the front of the box
 with Mrs. Stuart, his shaggy gray head and
 keen lined face attracting considerable atten- tion ill their neighborhood. He was in his | most expansive mood; the combativencss of
 an hour before had disappeared, and the ar dent, susceptible temperament. of the man was absorbed in admiration, ill the mere sen
 suous artists delight in stirring and beautiful 1 series of impressions. When the white dress | disappeared through the doorway of the ball room he followed it with sigh of regret, and | during the scene which followed between the | prince and his intended bride he hardly l looked at the stage. The princess indeed | was all tiSat Mrs Stuart pronounced her to | be; she was stitfer ard ciunlsier than even her Teutonic role could justify, and she marched labOTiously y through Ter very proper and virtucUs speeches, evidently driven on | by an uneasy consciousness that the audience | was only eager to come to the end of them | and of her.
 In the littlo pause which followed the dis appearance of the newly betrothed pair into the distant ballroom, Mrs. Stuart leaned ,o@~1r ''Now. then, Mir. Kendall, prepare your
 criticisms! In tic scene which is just con-
 ing Miss Bretherton has good deal moro to do than to look pretty.'
 "Oh, but you forget our colnpacti' said 1 Kendall. "Rcineinoer you arc to be the judge
 of our behavior ct the e,.d. It is not the part 1 of judge to tempt those on whcm be is to
 deliver judgment to crime"
 | Don't put too much violence on yourselfn
 said Mrs. Stuart laughing. "You and Ed
 ward have tie back of the bo. to talk
 what heresy you liao in, so long ;rs you let
 Mr Forbes perform his dcvotions uudis-
 turked."
 | At this Forbes half turned round, and shook
 his great lnane, under which gleanled a coun- | tenance of comedy monaco, at the two men | behind him. But Ei another instant the | tones of Isabel Brethertons voice riveted his
 attention, and the eyes of all those in tho box
 were once moro turned towards the stage. | The scene which followed was one Of the
 most meritorious passages in the rather
 heavy German play from which the White
 Lady" had been adapted. It was intended to
 show the romantic and passionate character
 of the countess, and to suggest that vein of
 c1travagance and darlng ia her which was | the explanation of the subsequent acts. Ill 1 the orlgl nal the dialogue had a cert ain Ger l man force and intensity, which lost nothing ! of its occasional hcaViness in the nout!, of | Eawcs, tho large boned wagering person.
 age who played the prince. An actress with
 sufficient force of feeling, and an artistic
 sease subtle enough to suggest to her the nec-
 cssa-y nloduiatioa could have made great
 mark ill 1t. But the first words almost re-
 vealcd Isabel Bretherton's Limitations, and | before two minutes were over Kendall was | conscious of complete collapse of that l sympathetic relation between him and the
 actress which the first scene had produced
 In another sentence or two the spell had been | irrevocably broken, and he seemed to him.
 self to have passed from state of sensitive
 ness to oil that was exquisite and rare in her | to 6 state of mere irritable consciousness of
 her defects. It was evident to him that in a
 scene of great capabilities she never once
 rose beyond the tricks of an elementary elo-
 cution; that her violence had a touch of com
 monness in it which was almost vulgarity,
 and that even her attitudes had lost half their
 charm For. ill the etfort-the conscious and | labcred effort of acting-her movements,
 which had exercised such an entertainment l over him in the first scene, had become
 mere strides and rushes; never, indeed, with
 out grace, but often without dignity, and at
 all times lacking ill that consistency, that
 unity of plan which is the soul of art. | The sense of chill and disilluson WAS eS-
 tremely disagreeable to him, and by the timo
 the scene was half way through he had al-
 most ceased to watch her. Edward Wallace,
 who had seen her some two or three times in
 the part, was perfectly conscious of the | change, and had been looking out for it. | 'Not much to be said of her, am afraid,
 when she comes to business" he said to Ken
 dal i:l a whisper, as the two leaned against | the door of the box "Where did she get | those tiresome tricks she has, that seesaw iu-
 tonation she puts on when she wants to be
 pathetic, and that absurd restlessness which
 spells everything7 It's terrible pity. Some 1 times 1 think catch n pleam of so,ne or;-