The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-07-16

| eyes with a concentrated look of command
| OIL the face Of the actor
| Half way across the stage French seemed
| suddenly to feel the effect Of his command
| ing glance. He had come in, as usual, with
| the little skip of a comic old man. but now
| he suddenly stopped dead. The members of
| the company ceased to look at Upbam, and
| fixed their eyes, full of anticipation, on Ed
mund French. His panic was only for a
moment II ordinary spectators could
| hardly notice it-then he walked to the
seat that he had to take by small table,
but he staggered as he walked with uncer-
| tain steps, and when he reached his place
| sank down with his arm on the table and
his face on his arm.
"Why, the man is drunk u said Terrell,
with an oath.
And when French spoke his voice sounded
as though the manager was right. Most of
all, he was not speaking his lines, but some-
| thing quite different. The audience, how
ever, noticed nothing wrong, for the words
were coherent and ineligible, although they
certainly were not the words of :" The Lost
Will" His apparent drunkenness seemed
part of the play. The words were even in
teresting, and there was n listening hush
over the place, which was not usually no.
ticed when The Lost Will " was played
"It is trick" said Terrell swearing
again; but Upham, with his dark eyes
fixed on the actors face, did not seem to
hear. His cheeks were unnaturaly pale,
and drops of cold perspiration stood on his
forehead.
Edmund French shall suffer for this,n
growled the manager again, and Upham,
with his white, concentrated face, turned TO
him with sudden excitement.
. Be silent, man, unless You want fiasco
Leave me alone, and l will pull you through.
Distract my attention, and see what hap
pens"
The manager glanced at the stage again,
in obedience to the journalists directing
finger.
The actor was sitting quite motionless,
with vacant look on his face. Terrell was
conscious now that he had stopped speak
ing in the middle of a speech at the instant
that the mesmerist had turned his eyes from
the stage.
For Heavens sake, 90 on" he said, con-
quered, as Upham turned back. The play
went on again. the astonished manager not
speaking another word during the whole
performance.
The piece that French was giving piece
Terrell had never heard before, seemed to
him to take hours delivering. In reality,
the monolog was quite short one, and
occupied less than half an hour, but TO the
anxious manager expecting every moment
that something might disturb the mesmer-
lists attention, and cause the piece to break
down ingloriously, the minutes passed like
hours. Even in his agony of suspense the
manager could not help noticing Edmund
Frenchs acting. 1t was the most wonder
ful part in the whole affair. He was COM
pletely transformed, and played with a
depth and passion that astonished those
who knew his ordinary acting in comic
character, clever as that was. He had all
ways been able to make the audience laugh.
Tonight in the strange little monolog he
was making half the audience cry. When
all too soon for every body but Terrell, the
curtain came down, there was perfect hur-
ricane of applause. and the actor was called
again and again.
Next day there was an enthusiastic notice
in one of the principal morning papers,
whose critic had been lured there, in time
for the monolog, by a note from the leading
lady. He could not say enough Of the play
or Of the acting. Without any notice on
the program, and without even changing
the scenery of The Lost Will." he wrote,
there was produced last night, st the Ly.
eeam Thsasss, short play q rsnsfksbls