The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-06-27

| f1attering remark, for both claimed that
1t out-rivalled any other 1 had ever as
sumed. When they were quite done
| with me, took a handful of the fair
Bride roses and laid them on the fam
ing corsage just above my heart, hop
ing that one In that great audience
| might look upon their immaculate
beauty and be led to fancy them
symbolical of the heart they covered.
And then, for the last time in my life,
l obeyed the summons of the call-boy
and returned to- the stage.
The second act began, and progress
ed with the same usual degree of fire
and spirit that had marked the first.
The contagion Of my example had
spread among the company, and each
| member seemed Cinspired to excel him
self. Every point scored a success, and
encores were a. matter Of course for
ALL
In the middle of the act, I noticed a
Slight stir in the left of the orchestra.
The house had been so rapt and atten-
| tive that what otherwise might have
| passed unobServed now became con-
| spicuous. The auditorium was so dark
| that could not discover what had oc-
! CURED, but through a dusk / caught
sight of three or four figures passing
swiftly up the aisle.
The disturbance was too trifiing to
L
dismissed all recollection of it, suppos-
ing that some woman had found the
crowded place too close and had, per-
hapS, tainted; or possibly that some
man had lapsed from sobriety, and had
been made victim of by an usher. 1t
was Richard Quintard who, later, told
me what had actual happened And
this was his story.
He said that on taking his seat he
had noticed sitting directly in front Of
him woman and two unusually
beautiful girls. He especially interest
ed in the group by reason Of a strange
incongruity that existed between the
older and the younger women. The
latter were charming young creatures,
with an air Of unSOphisticated innO-
cence about them which caused him
to marvel at seeing them companied
by so vulgar and course a creature as
the loud and fiashy person who accom-
panied them; besides this, 1t was ap-
parent that the relations between the
three were not close or intimate, for
formality and constraint marked
their mutual attitudes and their con-
versation. He watched them narrowly
until the curtain rose, specializing up
on their places in society, and being
entertained by their obvious intense
absorption in their surroundings.
This they were evidently too ingen-
uous to try to disguise, and their glow
ing faces and sparkling eyes, as we'll
as the snatches of excited and Won
dering commentary he caught, con-
WINGED him that, if either had ever be-
fore seen the inside Of a theater, her
experience had been limited to very
few occasions In spite Of the uncon-
geniality Of disposition and habit that
plainly separated the girls from her,
the woman was the only present source
frQI1 NTuoi T11 d,.ox inf
ton concerning the novel and alluring
surroundings in which she had placed
them, and their curiosity doubtless
conquered any natural shrinking they
might have felt from her society, and
made them willing and eager to en-
tighten their igorance at her hands.
When the curtain rose their enchant-
ment was redoubled. Others besides
himself watched them in amusement
Richard said, and their open-eyed and
frankly-confeSSed amaZement and de-
light drew much attention from the
play to center itself upon the lovely
artless faces. He watched them closely
and admiringly until the moment came
for my appearance, and then more
engrossing interest diverted his notice
from them and turned it wholly upon
the stage.
A sudden and slight ejaculation from
one of the trio before him presently
drew his eyes again upon them. 1t
had come from the lips Of the fairer
and gentler of the.ftwo girls, and was
strangely compounded of pain, horror
amazement and. incredulity. She had
turned from her contemplation of the
stage, the center Of which I, in my
pages suit of silver and gray, was
holding with a gay and graceful song
and dance, and was gazing with wide,
questioning eyes at the woman by
whose side she sat. Meeting no answer
ing look on the hard, bold face that
was directed uncomp- onis:Egl straight
forward, she dropped her glance upon
the programme. and, with bent head
and agonised scrutiny, studied the lines
which set forth the cast of characters.
For a moment or two she kept her head
lowered, probably searching, in desper-
ate fear and foreboding, for a name
familiar to- and beloved Of, herself and
when she again lifted it the eavesdrop
per behind heard her heave a little
sigh of relief, though it was impossible
for him to discover whether that an
guished look she had cast upon her
needless companion had died out of the
sweet blue eyes. or if it still scorched
the heavily-fringed glids
AS the play went on, she sat quite
Still gazing straight before her, occa-
sionallv starting almost conVulsiVeiy
when it fell to me to speak an infre-
uuent line. Now and then, after these
thrills of apprehension, she would
turn again that searching, interroga-
tive look upon the woman, gaining
nothing, however, from her inattentivt
preoccupa ton. All pleasure had van
ished from her countenance; it sug-
gested, in the profile glimpse he caught
of it, pain, modification, uneasiness
and shocked modeSty.
Without suspecting why she was
thus affected, Richard Quintard un-
derstood and sympathized with the
shock her unworldliness had evidently
sustained, and his interest in so unus-
ual a specimen of modern maidenhood
became redoubled. At the end of the