The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1898-09-16
asked. II wish to speak TO ~ 49,.
and NJ. Desmoulins. - The curtain had
fallen on the second act.
CHAPTER, TX.


De Lacaze, his dyed mustache bitten
nervously between his yellow teeth,
gazed piercingly about him in search of
Priscilla. She came, finally, down the
corridor, crowded with that portion of
the audience which, Paris fashion, de-
serts the loges between the acts to i'm
bibe fresh air while exchanging stale
platitudes She was on Stornmouth's
arm. She looked like white rose in
the midst Of dollhouse of forced flow
ers, sun kissed, instead of gaslit, into
fairness Her eager young face, fine and
spirited, bore the hint of q womanly
self reliance which was like Whit OF
something delightfully."- uncommon to
De Lacazes jaded epicureanism.
Desmoulins held forth, oraclewise,
to a man on his right, who was dubbed
ironically by his confreres the "patent-
ed moralist Of France - Cavally had
convictions and held to them. In this
instance he had barefacedly opposed
Desmoulins' criticism and declared
that the debutante had won Glands
down. !"
"She will have a big fight, that
young one" he asserted, with world
wise wag of his head. "She has voice,
talent, beauty and intelligence. Her
comrades will damn her future if she
does not Illustrate their diabolical in
trigues with consummate tact. She is
too near perfection to attain popularity
except among the just, and the just are
in the minority here" he added under
his breath, with a refractory lift of his
brows.
"Absurdr' calculated Desmoulins.
"Notoriety is not attained SO easily this
side of the water. They come, these
young novices, and dare to try and take
us old dogs by storm. She is neither
skirt dancer nor a ropewalker. More's
the pity! She poses as an artist. She
has much to learn. The third and fourth
acts will determine her fate. If am
not mistaken, she lacks sustaining pow
or and temperament.
Temperament in foreign translation
is that element which pure American
woman is brought up to ignore and
which histrionically inclined French
women are exhaustively counseled to
cultivate. 1t is what the sun is to the
sky, what the heat is to summer, what
the blue is to the sea. 1t is the body of
any achievement. 1t ranks its owner as
a woman who has stlived" materially.
Without this hint Of temperament,
which obviously is portrayed in greater
perfection it emulated from the stand
point of personal experience than
through any copy, no matter how ardu-
GUS its reality, an actress is contemptu-
ously alluded to as an s'ignoramus,
and laughed at for being'a weak inter
prefer instead of exemplifying the epit-
ONE of vital delineation. Playing at
love, as in Constance's case, rings false
on French ears. The critics forgot that
Juliet was IA, her materialism therefore
in its baldest infancy They remember
ed only a once great artist, long since
dead, who sang the role to their COM
plete satisfaction because she sang it
from standpoint of many sided tenn
permanent, an obvious outgrowth of her
own erotic experience.
The critics called Constance 'sicy, %
therefore, and "characterless, and
yawned out protest at her evident
"unfamiliarity with the boards, % total
~ Indifferent as to whether this were
her first appearance upon the French
stage or not. Had they been asked to
consider her tenderly, they would have
answered that the debutante had no,
considered them in her exhibition Of
imperfection. Yes, the voice was good
| INIT JQ,,f ri 10 o1y
experience. One could see that she was
raw and colorless this, after repeat
ed nudges from Desmoulins, and frowns
fierce and undeniably contradictory
from De Lacaze.
De Lacaze, out Of the depths of hi
own talent for using his friends to max,
! the biggest moves on the world chess
, board, so that he might retire unsus
pected of collision from behind pos
! sibly brought to light intrigue, had dis
: cerned, with acute apprehension, tin
policy Desmoulins proposed to pursue
1t was to be case Of blackmail. D.
Lacaze knew Matchmaking methods roo
and branch. He had pursued them 70
? years with recognized proficiency. Des
moulins was to constitute himself tn
go between, in journalistic influence
which would determine Constance's flu
ture, by substituting flank movement
i where Constance's friends We're con
cerned. In this manner he proposed Il
: trip up his adversary if he We're caugh
! endeavoring to make off with the Who'll
of the spoils and demand remuneration
of his victim for having governed tn
> verdict. He was holding back the It'd
/; now, the tide which had turned in ia
l vor Of the new debutante, whose luck,
star had set fair did Desmoulins no
-. -. =: :. :: = Is course
FRO BE Continued