Connecticut western news., 1901-01-17
THE WOMAN IN BLACK Who Did Not Relish Grow
 ing Old.
BY HAMILTON ORMSBEE.


 academy. The Marasquin English Opera company was to open the sea- son there in Faust" Marasquin never had sung and never could sing in any language but Italian, but his Mephis- topheles was great impersonation, and his company was more nearly English than are most of those which sing under that appellation. Mitchell, the tenor, was a Nantucket Yankee; Neu- man, the baritone, was born in Osh- kosh, where his father owned a brew cry; the contralto's English had a Gaelic twist to it; Alice Titus, Mitch elPs wife, who had sung Marguerite to his Faust for 15 years, was Yer mont girl, and Miss Evans, the girl who was to succeed the old favorite, came from Texarcana and had cour- age, beauty and voice. Hers was the only new face. The others were es- abolished favorites, and Brooklyn had turned out to do them honor.
 There were women without bonnets and wearing diamonds in two of the boxes. Half a dozen Brooklyn men were In evening dress, and in the body of the house were knots of New York CTS, who had come over to give their friends an suspicious start on their new season.
 Near the front sat a woman in a black gown with a little black hat plain as a pikestaff, but jaunty as a cock partridge in the spring Her black hair was freely touched with gray, and she was well past 40, but she was not old. Her face bore the unmistakable stamp of achievement and she looked a mature woman of fine health in the full ripeness and keenness of intellec- tual power. She bore herself easily and indifferently, as one accustomed to crowds little quickening of interest and a long and sweeping use of her glass as the curtain rose showed that she had come for the opera rather than for any social purpose.
 The performance went quietly until the vision of Marguerite was shown. Scores of glasses were leveled at this picture, sigh of admiration swept over the house and then hearty round of applause In recognition of the beau ty of the new singer. The woman In black turned to the younger woman who had accompanied her: "She has | good points, but she doesn't make up | well. Her mouth"-
 Just behind them a young girl, at | tending her first opera, exclaimed to her escort: "She Is perfectly lovely! | How can a girl look so much like an angelv'
 The escort looked down with admira- | ton into the flushed face and sparkling | eyes. He was 30 and in evening dress. "It's a fine chance for me to pay a | compliment, Nellie," he murmured "but I don't think I will. She is cer- | tainly pretty, but Pm afraid she will not make good the loss of Alice Titus. | Alice Is an old stager from further | back than I can remember, and she | positively had to stop singing last win ter. Three or four women have tried to fill her place, but have failed. Per haps this girl may do better. Old Al | Ice could sing, though"
 | The nostrils of the woman in black quivered, but the young man was too pleasantly absorbed to observe it. Ii was Nellie's first opera, and he felt obliged to dispel her Illusions as far as possible. That Is one of the ways in which we take our revenge on youth When Faust threw aside his students cloak, appearing as a tall. dashing handsome youth, the escort leaned over Nellie and whispered, "He doesn't look as if he was the husband of woman of 50, does he?
 The woman In black did not hear that.
 The garden scene came, and the new Marguerite trembled as she drew her spinning wheel in front of her to begin
 "There was a king of Thule" Her voice was a little uncertain, and she hesitated occasionally. Indeed heI singing was more like that of the req Marguerite than of an operatic prima donna. But the voice was fresh and true, and There was in it touch o1 that something which we call charm and which won her audience. The ap plause was SO hearty that the gir blushed through her make up' witt pleasure. The woman in black sank back and sighed, 'She is so young, SC blessedly, gloriously young"
 The woman had recovered her criti cal attitude by the time the jewel song was reached. Her glass followed ev cry movement and her acute ear judg ed every intonation. While the house was applauding enthusiastically she whispered to her companion, "She is nice girl, and she tries, but she can't sing that, and don't believe she ever will. Do you hear her trill wabblei She missed two notes in one of her runs It should have gone like this and in brilliant, pearly little tones al. most under her breath the speaker ran through one of the passages in which Marguerite vents her delight.
 Soft as it was, the young man be hind her heard the run. He looked al