The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-02-05
THE WOMAN IN BLACK
Who Did Not Relish Grow
ing Old.
BY HAMILTON oRMsBEE.

1t was a gala night at the Amphion
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 a great impersonation, and
his company was more nearly English
than are most of those which sing
under that appellation. Mitchell, the
tenor, was Nantucket Yankee; Neu-
man, the baritone, was born in Osh-
kosh, where his father owned brew
cry; the contralto's English had
Gaelic twist to it; Alice Titus, Mitch
ellis wife, who had sung Marguerite
to his Faust for Is 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-
tablished favorites, and Brooklyn had
turned out to do them honor.
There were women without bonnets
e1A0 W CehA LIS OAodOh00 III JnO VI tAC
boxes. Half a dozen Brooklyn men
were in evening dress, and in the body
of the house were knots of New York
ers who had come over to give their
friends an suspicious start on their
new season.
Near the front sat woman in a
black gown with a little black hat
plain as 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
q 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. A little quickening of interest
and 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, a 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 young girl, at
tending her first opera, exclaimed to
her escort: "She is perfectly lovely
How can a girl look so much like an
angelw
The escort looked down with admira-
ton into the flushed face and sparkling
eyes. He was 80 and in evening dress. /.
''It's a fine chance for me to pay
compliment, Nellie" he murmured,
''but l don't think l will. She is GER
tainly pretty, but I'm afraid she will
not make good the loss of Alice Titus.
Alice is an old stager from further
back than l 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
udpS ILLS III may w OCbtCAs OAA 80
ice could sing, though"
The nostrils of the woman in black
Quivered, but the young man was too
pleasantly absorbed to observe it. 1t
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 tall, dashing.
handsome youth, the escort leaned over
Nellie and whispered. "He doesn't look
as If he was the husband of woman
Of so, 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 her
singing was more like that of the real
Marguerite than Of an operate prima
donna But the voice was fresh and
true, and there was in it touch of
that something which we call charm
and which won her audience. The APP
plause was so hearty that the girl
blushed through her make up" with
pleasure The woman in black sank
back and sighed, "She is so young, so
blessedly. glorieusly young"
The woman had recovered her critf-
cal attitude by the time the jewel song
was reached. Her glass followed ev-
ery movement and her acute ear judg-
ed every information. While the house
was applauding enthusiastically she
whispered to her companion, "She is
q nice girl, and she tries, but she can't
sing that, and don't believe she ever
will. Do you hear her trill wabble?
She missed two notes in one Of her
runs. 1t 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 at
the singers face and started. He
glanced from the face to the gray hair
and back again. He tried to remem-
Der all the things he had been saying,
and blushed deeply.
Presently Faust was singing his love.
The woman in black leaned forward,
her lips parted, her fingers uncon-
sciously marking the time; then, as the
tenor's fervor increased and his tone
grew clearer and more vibrant, a flush
overspread her face. AS he ceased she
beat her gloved hands together as loud
ly as she could.
A sympathetic look stole into the
young mans eyes, and while the wom-
an in black was wholly occupied with
the stage he whispered softly to Nell
lie: "That woman in front of us is
Alice Titus. She is Mitchell's wife,
and she has been blushing with pleas
ure at his singing. They sang lovers
together for years, and the company
called them the turtledoves."
Nellie awoke from her dream. She
glanced from the woman to the tenor
and exclaimed incredulously and loud
er than she knew: "She can't be Faust's
wife. Why, she is grayF
The lips of the woman in black tight
ened, and the young man regretted his
indiscretion. He tried to atone for It
In. the church scene by Draising the