Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1904-06-11


came time to make the change for the
next act
She complained to the stage man
ager, but that official could offer no
practical suggestion. He was certain
it was none of the stage boys, and that
was all the satisfaction she could OBJ
tain.
The matter both annoyed and inter
ested her. 1t takes but little to make
talk in a company, and she wisely
held her peace; but she kept a sharp
eye out in the hope of discovering the
offender.
She even made practice of running
to the window the moment the curtain
fell in the hope of discovering the
writer erasing the lines, but by that
time the marks had been obscured and
she could only wait for time to unravel
the mystery.
On the 250th performance Agnes
Carleton celebrated the event by intro
ducing a new gown. In place Of the
white satin, which was beginning to
show the marks of wear and tear, she
appeared In a handsome black satin,
which caused every woman in the au-
dience pang Of jealousy and Incl
dentally got her several newspaper
items.
AS usual, Annice stood by the win
dow wondering who her unknown adj
mirer might be. Lady Gwendolin gave
her customary shrek and Annice
turned with scream of terror to be-
hold the villains wicked work
Tonight she supplemented her stage
horror with cry more natural Lady
Gwendolin fell with her face toward
the audience, that they might marvel
at the play of her facial expression
as she slowly died from the effects of
Maltravers' cruel blow. There on the
back of the black satin were the marks
of a mans fingers clearly outlined IN
white.
In flash it all came to her. Hugh
Cameron, who played Maltravers, was
the only person who left the stage. He
made his exit from the very window
cut of which she had been looking. All
of the other characters were supposed
to enter from the castle on the opposite
side of the stage.
1t was an easy matter to chalk the
legend while she was having her scene
with Miss Carleton. Then when he
fed from the consequence of his muir
derous assault he could rub out the
chalk marks.
Only the black satin dress had been
out of his calculations. When he had
grappled with Lady Gwendolin, the
chalk from his imperfectly cleaned
fingers had left their mark. On the old
white dress they had not been notice
able.
All through the last act the incident
kept running through her head. She
liked Cameron very much, better than
anyone else in the company. He had
been so kind to her in many ways, so
deferential, she could not believe
that he had sought to insult her. She
could not even imagine him doing such
thing even for joke. He was not
that sort of a man.
1t hurt her to think that he had a
hand in his joke. Just as the curtain
fell at the close of the act she turned
to Cameron.
81 should like to speak to you after
you have changed" she said simply.
He bowed, but it was with no easy
heart that he awaited her coming on
the dark stage.
She preached the subject directly.
"Mr. Cameron" she demanded, why
do you annoy me by chalking such alb
surd sentiments underneath the win
dow in the second actT
"How do you known" he countered.
"You left chalk marks on Miss
Carleton's black dress this evening""
she explained. Now want to know