Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1894-07-27
CELESTE.

flnement, an expression of innocence, in
her still face-that look which sometimes
returns to the face of dead person-for
one of her typeF
He laughed little. "Shall I tell you
her history"
''You know it'"
Intimately, I may say"
Zone always seems to know the his
tory" said but if there is anything
unusual in hers confess it would inter
est me-"
IL don't know" he began when we
had arrived here, THAT there is anything
particularly exceptional in that creatures
tragedy. Possibly it is not quite so sordid
as the others are, possibly it possesses an
unsophisticated element which they do
not possess. The charm of it is its idyllio
simplicity A poet mi sht sing it on one
note-up to a certain point.
1You probably observed that she was o
Frenchwoman. Her nationality is ex-
pressed in every line Of her face. One
must have the Latin type of beauty in
view to realize her full perfection. But
to come to the history. She sprang from
a race of professional mediocrities, both
her parents being in the chorus at the
Opera Comique, in Paris, of course
sionatley devoted to Celeste-that is her
name-their only child. They were hard
ly less devoted to their calling, but they
saw its dangers, and hoped to bring Ce-
leste up to different-I don't think they
would have called it a better-career.
"But one day the father died. The
mother struggled with comparative pow
erty for awhile before granting persist
ent request of Celeste, who was now IA,
that she might be allowed to earn some
thing for herself and contribute her mite
toward the household expenses. She was
very beautiful child, so that there was
no difficulty. But alas, she lacked the
one qualification for the chorus-her
voice was not musical and was of poor
quality. IT, however, she could not sing,
she had remarkable aptitude for dano-
ing. The steps came as naturally to her
as notes to young bird Her soul, In
all it's immaculate youth and gayety, SEEM
ed to find expression in her every move
ment. Surely it was one Of those happy
chances of fortune that an opening should
have been found for her in the ballet
"Your average lady Of the ballet in
this country may be person Of quite rig
orous principles have reasons for believ-
ing that she usually is-but socially she Is
of no account. Your ladies' maids and
milliners would hardly tolerate bowling
acquaintance with her. In France, or
rather Paris, it is, as you know, the re-
| verse in both respects She may be really
| quite the most important person in an ar
| tistic coterie, for instance. Celeste was
an exception, the only one, dare say. 1t
| is sure that she was protected by her moth
er, perfect dragon of virtue, but her own
innocence was indeed marvellous, invinci-
BILE. Perhaps it was deficiency that she
had no faculty for realizing wickedness
| Having been familiar with the theater from
| her childhood, she had not the remotest
feeling of indelicacy-not the remotest.
EVERY girl, however, good or other
wise, has her romance, and Celeste had
hers, though in her case 1t did not awaken
the flend of self consciousness. 1t was an
exquisite abstraction, a chtld's dream of
heaven.
HE was man of the world, boule-
Warbler something Of an artist and very
much of lover, rather notorious among
women. His interest in the theater-
need it be said?-did not originate with
| Celeste. There were others. She dawned
upon him suddenly, and for little time
he was fascinated by her joyous, 1.-the
movements, by her incompatible physical
qualities, by that indefnable quality Of
fascination possessed by girls of Celeste's
age. She had for him purely an aesthetic
fascination Does she not, he said to
| friend one night, as they were watching
her from their seats, by her gayety, her
virginia. freshness, her exquisite immatur-
ity, perfectly symbolic springr
''This was the beginning of Celestes
romance. She saw him, saw that he OBJ
served her, and she was filled with a new
delight, absorbing incomprehensible.
ION one occasion only did he try to
make her acquaintance, but hearing of
the mother gave up tho idea. Afterward
the fact of his not knowing her had sort
of careless attraction for him-the attrac-
ton of novelty. He knew so many. o.
casionally he contrived to send her flow
ers, which were acknowledged from the
stage by reserved, revealing smile. And
occasionally he would wait at the stage
door and watch her egress with her moth
er and catch in his eyes the glance which
would flash from hers as she passed.
TT was a INDUSTRIOUS pity that the
affair could not have remained at this
harmless point and come eventually to
an end, as it possibly wouldn't any rate,
so far as he was concerned. But Provi-
dence interviewed in the shape Of bad
cold, which carried off the mother and left
Celeste alone, absolutely alone. Here the
romance ends. The rest is attenuated,
commonplace. Their first meeting was,
at least, curious He feigned an interest
which, fear, he hardly felt-so innocent
a creature is somewhat calculated to dis
arm interest, you know-and she, in q
like way, feigned an indifference which
did not last. He gave way to circum-
stances as you may imagine, and the re-
suit was-well, we saw it tonight"
ut was her recognition of you which
caused - began.
my dear fellow" he interrupted,
"pray do not now exact an explanation Of
the obvious"
'And them"
sob, then did the foolish thing which
has made such fuss, but at that mo-
ment he seemed SO intolerably heartless
that the glass sprang from my hand be-
fore"-
''You have apologized to him, of courser"
"No; IL fas not seemed necessary. -
Sketch.