The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-05-31
The aaa Dais Eagle adednesdag 9Horuuo, 7ay 81, 1893

tra- The young man who played the
bass-vioI IVES of Byronic cast Of fea-
/ ture. and the cornet-player was as round
and rosy as big red apple: and these
were the ones at whom the sylphs Of
| the stage usually made pretty mouths.
| That she should have selected him,
with his old and weazened face, to draw
| all eyes toward, made him boil with
wrath.
! As he sat up and glared about, the
! girl was just courtesving and throwing
/ kiss to him. Minis flushed. and the
people howled at his discontinue, while
the girl, quick to see she had made a
hit by chance, began to sing little
! love-song This she accompanied with
/ all manner Of serio-comic by-play, with
Minis still as its object.
] As he could do nothing but sit quiet
| " and hear it, he began to study the
singer. And this is what he saw:
a young girl not yet beyond her
teens. He was quite sure OF that, in
spite Of the makeup of the stage,
which the footlights and her nearness
TO them and TO him bro urht out
50 hideously. 4 girl with d fresh,
bright face, yet unmarried by
the hard life of the theater: pretty
face. with laughing blue eyes and
golden hclr, which Minis could see was
not wig.
As he studied her carefully, from the
crown OF paste diamonds that glittered
in her hair down to the silver lace that
friDged the high tops of her dainty
boots, the first violin grew less angry
with the girl for singing her little love
song to him; and when she left the
stage he gave her hand with as
hearty goodwill as any man in the
theater-which was a strange thing for
an orchestra player to do.
The fame of Monte" the new singer
at the Alhambra, ran quickly through
the town. and the theater was crowded
nightly. And every night she sang at
Minis. until it came to be the feature Of
her performance and looked for by the
regular habitues as the piece Dc resistance
Of the entertainment.
DO you see old Mims?'' said one.
1 DOl ulN "CI0- nc DAuSA4GS Like O
schoolboy when Monte comes at him.
Must be a new sensation to the old chap
TO have girl look at him twice. Once
is enough to scare most Of EN- into
fit"
We'll. I would be willing TO wear his
face for a night, to get as many smiles
as he does. But here goes for try for
one, at least"
With that. the Young fellow turned
to a f1Owerseller and selected a clump
Of the finest roses. At the end df No
MES act he stood well up and threw
them straight to her feet. Monte bowed,
picked them up and courtesied again.
laughing and showing her white teeth
the while. Minis. scowling a little,
looked about TO see who had thrown
the flowers. When he saw, the scowl
grew deeper.
That night. the first violin did an
other strange thing, for an orchestra
player. He went to the stage door and
waited for Monte TO come out. There
was group of men about, waiting for
Z chance to ogle the favorite, or. per-
LIZ DS- liz tic AltI ~ d 4ALilS supper III
some nearby coy retreat; and among
them Minis saw the enc who had thrown
the flowers. As Monte came out, this
man hurried forward and spoke to her
The girl hesita ted. stopped and listened;
then, with a slow and half-uncertain
negative, went on past him to the street
car
The fellow made as if to follow. but,
looking about, he saw Minis eyes fixed
they glittered like beads of fire and
seemed uncanny from the setting of his
queer. pale face. The man shrugged
his shoulders and walked away in the
other direction.
The next night, while Monte was
singing heavy flower piece was sent
down to the stage-an unusual thing at
the Alhambra, where matters of that
sort were not much INDUCED in. 1t so
happened that it came down where
Minis was, and he had to help lift it
over the stage rail. As he did so, he
saw note lying among the flowers,
and with dexterous flip he managed
to throw il out so that it fell beneath
his chair. He knew instiDctively who
had sent it. yet, to confirm his sus-
picion, he turned and looked about the
house.
As he had thought, the same fellow
was again standing to catch Monies
glance 81 acknowledgment but Monies
glance was fixed. instead. upon the first
violin, and the blue eyes shot out fiery
darts as Minis deliberately stopped,
picked up the note and placed it in his
pocket
Now. although Minis had such an in
heritance Of evil, he possessed also
certain gentlemanly instincts. And one
OF these prevented him from reading
note not meant for his eyes. But it
burned in his pocket. and he was in a
sore strait as 10 what he should do. He
believed Monte to be a good girl-she
had such honest eyes, he told himself
and he knew the man 10 be q scoundreI. +
Besides-but Minis would not confess
this even - his own consciousness
there was a soft place in bis heart, and
the girl had found it The outcome
was that he kept the note and went 70
the stage door again and watched until
Monte got safely to her car.
Upon the following night Monte
thought To have her revenge. So she
began by singing and making eyes at
the Bvronic youth with the bass-viol,
and utterly ignored Minis presence.
But she had reckoned without her host,
for the audience would have none Of it, /
They had become 50 accustomed 70 hav- /
ing the first violin as the silent partner .
ia this little bE-play, that they would .
brook m chance. And then the con-