The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-02-15

mated this one to be worth $1,000 TO
$4,000. I FASTENED down 70 the man
ayers Office to remit II, thinking it be-
longed to the newcomer or Cassella.
The manager was absent. and / heard
the bell ring for the second act. Holding
the diamond in my hand, l FASTENED to
my scat.
The unknown singer entered again.
she was IL possible tinge paler than be-
fore. She wore gloves this time, and her
| lips were not so cruelty red. She sang,
and. ye gods, what voice! Her voice
| SCARED, spread, fused with other invisible
voices; II rang sonorously and murmured
divinely in magnificent power and har-
mony--a voice all fire, a voice all soul.
tremblcd; the audience qulvered.
| Still that strange being stood in the same
position; still did her great. luminous
| eyes gaze continually upward. She seem
| ed not to heed her fellow artists. She
would glide by them like a -ision, light.
| ethereal, graceful. No one heard her
walk.
Again the curtain went down. Again
| the delighted audience cried out In a
| delirium of Joy.
Immediately sought Cassella's apart
mcnts as before, but they were empty.
J and l returned to listen TO the animated
discussions among the audience.
"Cassella Is eclipsed," they said. II
seems that no one but Barzillai. the
tenor, had spoken to her. He told her of
his wonder. his admiration, and she an
swered him in Milanese dialect, I'VE
shall meet again"
The bell rang. and the curtain went up
slowly. The lights seemed dim. the at
mospherc murky; the heat was sitting,
but upon the entrance of the mysterious
singer chill seemed to pervade every
| one.
The audience listened breathlessly, and
as l gazed upon her. charmed by her SUI
| pernatural beauty, / noticed that from
one of her ears hung large, bright stone,
similar to the one l held In my hand.
| Scarcely had | seen II when she caught
my eye. She smied-the only time.
averted my gaze. The music went on.
The scene where the unhappy Lucia,
after having been dragged to the altar by
her heartless brother, realizes the full
atrocity of his conduct. seemed to inhu-
ence the somber. spiritlike prima donna.
| for she reused herself at last and acted
with the frenzy of passion-acted with
the sublimity of pathos and despair. She
was intense, superb, In the mad scene.
Her voice had sobs Of anguish.
The eliminating point arrived, and the
pains and pangs OF Donizettis master
piece y.brated on her lips as they had
never done before. She gazed wildly,
stupidity, about when she stopped. The
curtain went down slowly. The house
was in tears.
In half an hour all New orleans
knew of the miraculous performance at
the st. Charles theater. The last act was
listened TO without interest, Lucia not
appearing in II. Nothing occurred except
the sudden indisposition of the tenor,
Barzillai, who was taken Ill at his hotel
and who, afterward learned, died that
night.
New Orleans outdoors, all fun, frolic
and animation. could not comprehend the
story told and repeated in the cafes and
on the streets by members OF the audi
ence. The reports were called exagger-
ated and the singers phenomenal voice
myth.
But no one could md her. She disap-
peared as soon as the curtain was lower
ed, and the manager told me confidential
| ly that he was as nonpiused as the audi
ence.
| Full or conhlctlng thoughts, walked
homeward and heard again through the
quiet streets far away from the riot and
revel OF the carnival the heavenly echo Oh
that unutterably divine voice.
1 walked on and passed across the 81.
Mary cemetery near by my lodgings. III
was late. The noise OF the city festlvi-
ties reached my ear from time 10 tlihe
family, but needed II not wrapped as
was In my own thoughts
Within Few steps OF my boarolng
house separated by hish wall from the
ehd OF inc srs'eyafd. there peneath
few cypress tres IN the iuii glare OF tne
moon l saw sight mat MADE me shud-
der with an unknown FEAR. lmpelied by
| power not my own, advanced to the
spot ana remarked WIN as'ohlshmeh'
that tomo had Deen deseerated' Inc
sod on either side had been strewn ana