Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-10-05

ried about her husband She talked in.
cessantly and was irritated by every re.
mark Felicia made She would not list
en- to Felicia S attempts to read even
part of Rache's letter, and when Fe-
licia offered to stay with her for the
evening she refused the offer with a
good deal of positive sharpness
SO Felicia started off to the play not
very happy, but she was familiar with
that feeling only sometimes she was
more unhappy than at other times Her
withdrawal into herself When the
company was seated in the box and the
curtain was up. Felicia was back of
The others and remained for the even
ing by herself Mrs Delano as chaperon
for a half dozen young ladies under
stood Felicia well enough to know that
she was queer, as Rose SO often said,
hn1 she made no attempt to draw her
ont of the corner, and so Felicia really
experienced that night by herself one
of the feelings that added to the mo-
mentum that was increasing the coming
on of her great crisis
The play was an English melodrama
full of startling situations, realistic
scenery and unexpected climaxes There
was ono scene in the third act that i'm
pressed even Rose Sterling
It was midnight on Blackfriars
bridge The Thames flowed dark and
forbidding below. ST Paul's rose
through the dim light, imposing, its
dome seeming to font above the build
'ngs surrounding it. The figure Of
child came upon the bridge and stood
there for moment, pcering about as
if looking for some one Several persons
were crossing the bridge, but in one of
the recesses about midway of the river
a woman stood, leaning out over the
parapet with strained agony Of face
and figure that told plainly of her in
tentions just as she was stealthily
mounting the parapet to throw herself
into the river the child caught sight of
her, ran forward, with a shrill cry more
animal than human. and. seizing the
woman's dress dragged back upon it
with all her little strength Then there
came suddenly upon the scene two other
characters who had already figured in
the play, a tall, handsome, athletic gen
tleman dressed in the fashion attended
by slim figured lad, who was as re-
fined III dress and appearance as the lit
tie girl clinging to her mother was
mournfully hideous in her rags and re-
pulsive poverty These two the gentle
man and the lad prevented the at
tempted suicide. and after a tableau on
the bridge where the audience learned
that the man and woman were brother
and sister the scene was transferred to
the interior of one of the Stun tenc-
ments in the east side of London Here
the scene painter and carpenter had
done their utmost to produce an exact
copy of famous court and alley well
known TO the poor creatures who make
up part Of the outcast London hui
manity. The rags, the crowding, the
vileness. the broken furniture, the hor-
rible animal existence forced upon
creatures made in God $ image, were so
skillfully shown in this scene that more
than one elegant woman in the theater.
seated, like Rose Sterling in a sump-
ings and velvet covered railing, caught
herself shrinking back little as if
contamination We're possible from the
nearness of this piece of painted canvas
1t was almost too realistic, and yet it
had a horrible fascination for Felicia
as she sat there alone buried back in q
cushioned seat absorbed in thoughts that
went far beyond the dialogue on the
stage
I From the tenement scene the play
shifted 10 the interior of nobleman $
palace, and almost a sigh of relief went
up all over the house at the sight of the
accustomed luxury of the upper classes
The contrast was startling 1t was
brought about by clever piece of stag
ing that allowed only a few minutes to
elapse between the Stun and the palace
scenes The dialogue continued, the
actors came and went in their various
roles but upon Felicia the play made
but one distinct impression In reality
the scenes on the bridge and in the
Stun We're only incidents in the story
of the Aay, but Felicia found herself
7
had never philosophical about the
causes of human misery She was not
old enough. She had not the tempera-
ment that philosophers. But she felt
intensely, and this was not the first
time she had felt the contrast thrust
into her feeling between the upper ard
the lower conditions of human life. 1t
had been growing upon her until it had
made her what Rose called "queer" and
the other people in her circle of wealthy
acquaintance called Every unusual
1t was simply the human problem in
its extremes Of riches and poverty its
refinement and its vileness. which was.
in spite of her unconscious attempts to
struggle against the facts, burning into
her life the impression that would in
the end transform her into either a
woman of rare love and self sacrifice
for the world or miserable enigma to
herself and all who knew her
Come, Felicial Aren't you going
homer" said Rose The play was over.
the curtain down. and people were GO
ing noisily out. laughing and gossiping,
as if "The Shadows of London was
simply good diversion. as it was put on
the stage so effectively
Felicia rose and went out with the
rest quietly and with the absorbed feel
ing that had actually left her in heI