The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1898-10-21


the desolation of days without him
She assumed her part, and laughed,
with very real gayety. There would
be many years wherein to bemoan
herself
"It's very dramatic" she said.
Every silly, too! Still, if quarrel is
what you want-rehearsal of a nom
Sensical plot-I'm ready. But uncle s
at the club. and he'll think it queer"
eff a woman of 33 can't go out un-
explained and well attended,"
I'm not 33!" she flashed back from
the glass, whittier she had gone to in
spect her glossy hair. "I'm 81"
II know it-on the Sd of Septem-
ber. 1 said it torouse you. l shall
leave no lash unflicked."
She went into the hall and tied the
little lace over her head. She was very
composed, and her manner had beau
tiful dignity. He looked at her with
Pride, and realized what she had
gained in poise and harmony since the
spring. She seemed to him a creature
capable of infinite growth, and he ex-
ulted in her. But he said, rather
brusquely:
"The opera isn't Tristan You
know it was, in the story, but
couldn't set my scene exactly"
"Ah. WE'LL after 'Parsifap at Bal
reuth. one doesn't sigh for Wagner in
America"
Nonsense, child," said he, putting
her into the carriage. That's very
superior kind of talk, but you don't
mean it. Iknow you! Give you a full
orchestra, and you'd shut your eyes
to any scene ever set. When it comes
to music, you're greedy enough over
half-loaves. No sitting down at home
for you! no moaning over "a sorrows
crown of sorrow!'"
She bent forward so that the wind
might cool her cheek. 1t was winter
night, very clear and still.
" dare say you are right" she said,
with the same elaborate Indifference.
II only meant didn't feel very en-
thusiastic, and I put it into the old
stock phrase"
"But we did hear Tristan" he in
sisted. "Do you remember%
She hesitated.
YES" she said, with little thrill
in her voice, II think do"
"Oh, you know you dol Let's tell
the truth tonight. That's one con-
dition of our farce"
The carriage had drawn up in q line
of others, and they joined the brilliant
stream pouring in at the door. Emily
looked down at her dress with an
amused dismay.
~ think I must have been crazy"
said she. II look like pew-opener"
He resisted the impulse to tell her
she looked altogether lovely. Satins
and laces had nothing to lend her.
I'VE are crazy, boal of u.s." he said,
brusquely, trying to be enigmatic-
beautifully, divinely mad, and bitten
by the same fly. Let's.see where it will
chase u.s."
All through the first act she found
herself in a dream. The music was
light and brilliant, yet she tried not to
listen. There were certain pages, she
told herself, that must not be turned,
Music seemed to her the ultimate call
life had to make. She could perhaps
bear the stress of the moment, but not
if this insistent note of outer beauty
sounded in her ear. With the first in
terlude, friends who had spied her out
came over to speak to them, to exclaim
over her unexpected arrival and ques-
tion her about the voyage. She was
glad. Commonplaces built little wall
about her, and she rejoiced in her de-
fenses. But. at length the others
dropped away, and still the curtain did
not rise. She felt Robert settling him
self at her side.
SHOWS the day and now's the hour"
he whispered. "You remember they
began to quarrel after the first act."
"Oh, yes, remember! But they had
something definite to quarrel about.
We're in the mist" He guessed at the
paleness under the sea tan of her cheek,
and called himself brute. But he had
undertaken task, and he began again,
indirectly.
II don't like your scene-setting.
Why should they hear Tristan It's
false note"
How is it false?" She spoke warm
ly, glad to escape from what she was
to something she had done.
"Meretricious, that's all. 1t takes
you out of the realm of pure emotion,
and forces you to lean on external de-
tail. Your lovers quarrel chiefly be-
cause they are wrought up to the last
pitch by a Titanic drama. You might
as well have an Apocalyptic vision de-
pendent on hashish. There's your
vision just the same, but it ought to
spring from something intrinsic"
"Yes," she cried. impulsively, but
She stopped.
"Oh, yes, know! 1t was after
Tristan that you and I owned our
love. But we only said it then, mind
| you. 1t existed BEFORE"
She felt her heart beating fast.
These things should not be brought
again to light, she thought, agonizing-
| ly. All the days of her exile rose up be-
fore her, days when she lived apart
from him. to heal her of her love; all
her nights of loneliness, and her tears,
salter than the estranging sea. Was
it not BADLY cruel to drag the fine,
sweet thing out of its grave, to probe
1t further? Then the curtain went up
and delicate melody wooed her from
herself. When the scene was over, he
began again, persisting palpably
/