Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-05-18

Within the circus the seats were al
ready overfowing. and the same names
repeated from mouth TO mouth blended
into a general murmur deadened by the
canvas roof over the ring. Some of the
ctrcus-men We're raking the sawdust on
the track, and, above the door to tlrt
stables, the musicians We're languldly
tuning their instruments, or, at times
addressing friends who passed beneath
the gallery. That you? Marius. how
goes it?' etc. In the upper rows the
audience was alive with Impotence for
the expected spectacle, and irritated by
the passing Of the young fashionable
''irst-nig ghters' frequenters be,
hind the scenes-who pressed in a
crowd to the narrow entrance leading
TO the greenroOm.
Officers in civilian dress, and stu.
dents, ship-brokers and idle dandies, all
wished for the last time to get near the
fair Mile. Rita, the celebrated eQues-
trienne, who, for month, had been the
subject of conversation in every mess
room and every club. They stepped
along, the elbowed and the elbowers
between the walls that We're covered
with sets of vanished harness, and
begged pardon every time they jostled
a groom. They stopped at the stalls of
Blue Devil and Djinn, the two trick
Ara bians, and, under pretext of giving
some sugar to the horses, fluttered
about the extemporized dressing room
where Rita, tranquil and smiling, was
donning her attire. Then came IN sue
cession the commonplace compliments,
to which the star of the circus, unheed-
ing, scarcely deigned to give an answer,
without seeming to note the ardent gaze
of her admirers.
She was a handsome girl, a careless
gypsy. with the sun in her eyes and her
blood, accustomed to the atmosphere of
admiration, and she finished her toilet
without hurrying. At times, however,
she gave her shoulders a shake and
made the pearls of her necklace rattle.
1t was when the little clown Aesop, her
husband who, all befioured and paint
ed. was walking before the room, his
huge top-knot swaying at every step,
drew near, and his sharp falsetto voice
launched some taunt at the artist's s
courtiers. They laughed, they even ap-
plauded, but, more often, they lowered
their eyes before the cutting, cold gaze
of the dwarf, whose wan and grotesque
face-in spite of the smile of his blood
red and too large Iips-seemed at some
moments to be fraught with evil.
This evening the manikin was IN a
worse humOr than usual; his jeers were
more biting and more bitter, and be-
meath the coat of flour covering his
scanned features he appeared not pale
but livid. His eyes had a sharp and
menac'ug flash in them, and never left
Rita, who, gayIy posed before her mir
ror, was having her bodice laced by the
handsome gymnast Icarus.
In the circus the orchestra was finish
ing a waltz by Metra. The curious were
gradually quitting the stable and re-
turning to their places The sharp GUS
Of the riu--master's whip were crack
Ing in the arena; the show had begun.
Icarus placed Il last rose in the hair OF
the equestricnne and ran to chalk her
shoes. He stumbled against his dwarf
ksh comrade.
The clown seemed very busy in exam
ining the gas metre, and pushed him
away with an oath. Then, without
more ado, the acrobat sent him reeling,
and Ieaping on a ladder, cried, with a
laugh, "Out of the way, you pitiful
pigmyF'