The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1901-04-19
The Last Night Of the Play.


The elegant Lord Courtleigh, who.
when lacking grease-paint and the man
ners of a peer, was the ignoble Harrison
Wade, pushed Bentley into the first wing,
with his back hard up against the switch
board. You'll be all right here. old
man." he whispered. ''You can see first
rate. and won't be in the way till the
stage manager shows up at the end of the
act to ring the curtain down and turn
the footlights out. If you want to know
anything, ask him. Here's where l 20
on. I'll see you at the end of the act.'''
Lord Courtleigh caught his cue and
sauntered onto the stage, staring loftily
through his monocle at the other play no.
bles and commoners in the accepted man
ner of the peer of the stage: and Bentley
devoted himself to his first backdoor
study Of play. The Offering was one of
the over-grown English melodramas Of
the Drury Lane theater brand-a play
made up of some dozen almost unrelated
incidents, tied together solely for the op-
portunities they offered for the display of
startling stage effects-and this perfOr-
nance closed the company's season. In
time Bentley wearied Of the performance,
and his attention shifted from the play to
the players. One of them, tall young
a Gainsborough hat, and prodded with a
filmy parasol, had caught his gaze the
minute Wade had pushed him into the
wing, and to her his eyes wandered
again. Despite the emphasis of grease
paint and black lines ne could see that
her face was worth as many glances as
a man had time to g i've.
.'What mart 6onc che hNvQ-thp la6v
with the great black hat!' Bentley asked
Of the stage manager, who had slipped in
beside him.
Lady Singleton" came the whispered
Bentley ran his eyes down his play bill
across the dotted lines. Gertrude Matt
land was her name. AS his eyes re-
manned upon her he began to be pos
sessed by vague sense of something ia
miliar about her presence. Where had
he seen her before? And if he had mot
seen her, what person he knew did she
could not locate the spot Of time in the
past where their lines of life had inter-
sected; nor could he locate anyone of
whom she reminded him.
At length the shifting about Of the
stage folk brought her to his side of the
stage In his mental search for the elu-
close upon Bentley forgot that he was
in theater, that she was an actress, and
that the people before him were merely
playing at life. He saw her handker-
chief f1utter downward. Instinctively he
started forward
him, and missed. Great God!' he cried,
in tense whisper.
The ejaculation reached Bentley's ears
ard brought him to his senses, but al
ready he was STOPPING at Miss Matt
lands side, with one hand closing on the
bit of cambria. Then whispered words
voice: Don't go off the stage. Pretend
aloudv'
He Strengthened up and handed her the
handkerchief. In doing this he looked
her squarely in the face and his eyes
now saw beneath her makeup. He start
ed back.
.Harriet!' he cried, involuntarily. At
this instant there was a pause in the
stage conversation, and Bentley's word
was heard in the farthest corner of he
house. ~
Miss Maitland bowed stif1y, and said
is Lady Singletonv'
She bowed again. and while her head
was down she whispered: pretend to
excuse yourself. Don't speak,
Bentley caught the cue, and to those be-
yond the, footlights seemed to be making
profuse apology. She smiled her forgive
ness, took a step nearer to him and be-
gan to move her lips as though talking.
When she ceased he in turn made dumb
show of speech. A couple of minutes of
| this wordless conversation and she whis-
pered, when ! tell you to, walk across
the stage into the opposite wing. You
must bow to me when you leave me-"
she waited half minute. "Now," she
whispered.
Bentley made pretense of uttering
words Of parting, raised his hat, bowed,
| and with what ease he could command.
| escaped into the safety Of the right wing.
The stage manager, half dozen actors,
and outside Of these fringe of stage
HANDS; were nervously waiting him.
he did not know what-then pushed
through them and made his way to a
| chair at the back of the stage. And it
was she 1T was really she! Gertrude
MISUNDERSTANDING that was just her
stage name. Strange that he should meet
ner In such a manner! No. not strange,
| either. Why any more strange that aft
er seven years they should come together
on the stage of theater than that they
should meet by chance on the street?
He wondered if she still felt toward him
| as she once did for his behavior in the
aHalr tnat had sent them apart. And he
wondered how it was that she was now
an actress. And he wondered. viii, q
flush of exeusable pride if she had heard
Of his rapid rise to high place among
the younger lawyers of the city. His
wandering wits might have touched nues-
tlOnlngiy upon every change and incident
Of the past seven years had not the cur
| tain dropped just then and brought him
eagerly to his feet -
| Bentley watched HE channo so,r,3 -.
! ceeded in catching Miss Maitland some.
| what apart from the other actors. She
gave him an open smile as he came m
and the glad light in her eyes brought
him an immense relief. He had l,ali
feared her greeting, but the way IN which
she smiled showed at once that she shsd
forgotten and forgiven. sl -
They had but a moment togethe "a,
she went on at the beginning Of the nexi
act. 50 time permitted only q auesfion
and an answer. The question he mn
I'm dozen words Could he see her affes