The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1893-05-25

1 SOuR. Will lHItTluutS VI tldhSC-SNOP S
and graceful posturing. A new singer
he saw at once. And, to catch the audi
ence, she was singing to and making
eyes at some one in the orchestra, and
that some one was Minis. Now this had
| never happened before. There were
plenty of comely fellows in the orches-
ira The young man who played the
bass-viol was of a 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 weakened face, to draw
all eyes toward, made him boil with
wrath.
As he sat up and glared about, the
| girl was just courtesying 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 it's object.
AS he could do nothing but sit quiet
ly 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 ought out
50 hideously. A girl with a fresh,
bright face, yet unmarried by
the hard life of the theater; a pretty
face, with laughing blue eyes and
golden HAIR, which Minis could see was
not a wig.
AS he studied her carefully, from the
crown of paste diamonds that glittered
in her hair down to the silver lace that
fringed the high tops of her dainty
boots. the first violin grew less angry
with the girl for singing her littls love-
song to him; and when she left the
stage he gave her a hand" with as
hearty goodwill as any man in the
theater-which was strange thing for
an orchestra player to do.
The fame of Monte" the new singer
at the Alham bra, 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 de resistance
of the entertainment.
do you see old Mims?" said one.
Upon my word, he bushes like a
schoolboy when Monte comes at him.
Must be new sensation to the old chap
to have girl look at him twice. Once
| is enough to scare most of 'em into a
| fit"
well, would be willing to wear his
| face for 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 flower-seller and selected clump
of the finest roses. At the end of No
MES act. he stood we'll 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. lie went to the stage door and
waited for Monte to come out. There
was group of men about. waiting for
Il chance to ogle the favorite, or. per-
haps, invite her to a little supper in
some nearby cozy retreat; and among
them Minis saw the one who had thrown
the flowers. AS Monte came out. this
man hurried forward and spoke to her
The girl hesitated, 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
upon him. Beneath the street lights
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. a 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 a deXterous flip he managed
to throw it out SO that it fell beneath
his chair. He knew instnctively 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 of acknowledgement: but Monies
| glance was fixed, instead, upon the first
violin, and the blue eyes shot ont 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 a
note not meant for his eyes. But it
burned in his pocket and he was in a
sore strait as to what he should do He
believed Monte to be good girl-she
had such honest eyes, he told himself
and he knew the man to be a scoundrel.
BesideS-but Minis would not confess