The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-03-14
A WATERS ROMANCE.

"a w al LII ~ ltO-u1AANSSs
His fellow walters al. agreed that Emil
had become a perfect do.t- In his eyes
grew an absent look, and he saw visions
in the blue cigar smoke There was
vacant expression in the honest, slow face
as If the fumes and reek Of the music hall
had settled in kind of fog in his brain.
The opening night was thick with rain.
Blurred in mist, the lights OF the hall
shone out on the dripping streets, and an
air Of discomfort peSvaded the scanty
throng. inside. A very decent pas seul had
gone unapplauded, and prime favorita
of the stage was in tears In tho wings.
The strings bounded to q strain of Bur-
gundy, and cut there tripped trim little
figure, peasant CARRIED and roguish eyed.
You have heard Robin piping full voiced
from bis leafy covert and while the drip of
the ran struck through the hedge singin g
of golden Moons afield. So rang the music
in tie ears 81 the gaping faced waiter.
The ball thrcbbed with fresh melody, and
. moment Later with thunders of applause.
Emil was interested. She came out twice
again. He wished that she had chosen an
encore trifio less spirited than her last
song. Her pzme, he thought, should be
Jennie. But Il wasn't.
Late that nisft wandering voice was
heard down in the mist OF the street-a
gTuff voice that seemed to try to recall a
tune all but forgotten. Emil trudged
homeward, damp and pensive. He did
not know that he was disturbing the peace.
What is there in a roguish eye and a
trim ankle to cause fnfatuaJion? Nothing
in reason, it must be confessed But be-
fore the week was out Emil had MAIDS
wrong change several times and brought q
straw lemonade to one of the oldest pa
irons Of the place. He grew preoccupied.
And every night as he trudged homeward
his gruff voice essayed to recall forgot
ten strain.
On Saturday night the music hall was
crowded to the doors. The gilded youth
of the town were in the boxes. and in the
full blaze corks popped merrily and light
words passed Emil was acting very badly.
When party of young bladcs had ordered
a round he remarked incoEsequentially:
''She will come out at 10. You shall see. I"
He did not notice that they laughed loud.
~. And the old tune kept bothering him.
Back among the palms where the great
colored globes sofJened the lights he was
resting a moment when she came out and
stood like merry NIKE in the center OF
the stage There was the old applause,
and he moved nearer, drawn as all week
he had Teen drawn. A second and d third
time she sang. And then on the ears OF a
waiter, listening with his heart In his
eyes, fell the melody which had been
haunting him ight and day with its half
remembered snatcbes. 1t was a silly lit
tie folk<ong the childish love OF children,
q song # Alsatia.
There was q crash, voice was In the
air JernieP'-and in the aisle lay the
tray, with it's broken glasses, and over it,
with a pale, excited face, stood Emil.
Angry words rose around him, and in the
confusion the singer faltered slightly. But
the flowers raincd down upon her when
she finished, and the audience seemed
ready to take her to its arms. Emil trudged
homeward Saturday night, in fine and dis
grace, happy!
1t was long after midnight, and he sat
In his room. Would she remember him
she, the beautiful singer? An, those were
pleasant days in Elsass when the great
Rhine flowed through the fields, AMI, a
child, he had played with Jenchen- Taers
was tiny silver ring in his wallet which
she had placed on his finger the morning
that she had crossed the river with her
family and passed beyond the fortresses
below the horizon of France. She must
be good, and she was very beautiful He
fell asleep with the ring in his hand, and
a sprite with an exaggerated headdress
danced into his dreams, with the ring for
her girdle, and, slumbering, he muttered,
''WunderschOen."
I'm Alsatia where there Is no law"
And the proverb continues that dreams
are realities, and peasants pay court to
princesses, and Arcade is come again-in
Alsatia.
Behold Emil at the music hall, with his
face aglow, busy among his patrons. There
was a call for three stems, and he nodded
an honest approval. When he took an
order for Rhine wine, he beamed with sat
isfaction. BE shook his head gravely as
he set down an absintbe. The green giim-
mer always disturbed him as OF something
impish. All the while throbbed the music,
and the limelights glared on the stage,
where performers came and went And
Emil waited for her coming.
Night before last he had carried basket
Of cut flowers to the footlights. Last night
be saw her driven away from the stage
door in a carriage by the man who had
sent them. 1t made him uneasy in vague
way. But tonight there was waiting a
bouquet in which silver ring nestled,
and his heart beat high.
She came at last, the little friend of his
childhood, singing into view, singing
straight into his honest, stupid heart
And down the aisle he marched with steady
feet, his great bouquet half hiding the
glow of his face. She would find the ring,
he thought, by and by, and then
AS he handed the flowers over the foot
lights he dared not look up. There was
tinkling sound, and he raised his head.
The flowers We're in her hand, but the sill
yer token had become disensaged and had
fallen into her palm and to the floor.
She looked straight at him, and her eyes
were like frozen yiolets The little ring
rolled neglected into far corner. AS the
heartsick waiter turned away the flutes
hreathed the prelude 10 the old song Of FL
sass. And she never sag 1t better.-EI-