The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-08-20
FROM THE HIGH TRAPEZE
BY ZOE RINEHART.


 (Copyright. 1904. by Daily Story Pup,
 It is quite certain now that Ceies- tine will never walk again. The aoc- tors say that 1t Is quite impossioie' The fall was terrible.
 She has given her last performance in the circus. Her daring feat nus been cheered for the last time. Ceies" tine loved the cheers. have felt ner hands culver in mine, her bosom Hut ter with quick-drawn breaths or ec- stacy. as up through the dim air or tne circus tent. up through the sickenins odor of the animals in the outer space, came the throb and pulse or the cheering muititudes.
 They will never cheer for celestine again.
 Poor celestine!
 But great Heaven! to me the most terrible thought is that she thinks l did it on purpose. That when l nelo her there in mid-ai high above the sawdust of the ring, so high that the upturned faces of the men and women and the children in the vast amphi- theater looked small and specterlike. that then meant to let her fall. It was just when she took her perilous leap-it has always been leap Tor
  go sick and weak and faint. and I felt a sudden shock and a strange lightness, and the distant faces all at once went white and stark with hor- TOT.
 Then I knew that Celestine would never make that leap again.
 But did not mean to do it. could not help 1t.
 She thinks 1t was on account of withrow. withrow joined the com pany in Kansas City last year. The managers thought him the greatest acrobat they had ever seen. And he seemed wonderful to us all.
 From the first he took Celestine's fancy. Celestine was a creature of fire, and her infatuation for Withrow burned with the white fierceness of an arc light.
 Celestine was born pretty. And, un- like the most of us women of the cir. GUS, she had a kind of beauty that our terrible life somehow could not kill. Through the most glaring makeup. through the most hideous disguise of powder and rogue Celestine's beauty shone forth, soft and virgin-like.
 Perhaps that was one reason for tho cheers Celestine always received. Tho crowd never failed Celestina.
 
 came more than ever a creature of fire and flame. have seen her watch him with every fiber of her being tense and quivering with her passion for him. I doubt If there was but one sound more exquisite in her ears than the applause that rang out for her. That was the thunder that followed Withrows marvellous performances. It was the sound that made her eyes glitter with the fierce gloating of her soul.
 There was something about Celes- tines intensity that made you want to stir up the fire that was always slumbering in her. You longed to see the flame leap up. swift and serpent like, at the slightest thing that famed it. Give the most trifling impulse to her jealousy, and you saw 1t in all its consuming power
 Celestine from tho first made the man a bone of contention between us. If he looked at me. her face darkened with anger. If he spoke to me. she trembled with fury.
 When l reached the dressing-room one day-that terrible day that I was to let Celestine fall-she paused omi- nously over her rogue jair.
 T saw you." she said with him.
 We met-it was by the merest ac- cident. Celestine." I answered. short ly. I was tired of 1t all. somehow, that day. There's a feeling like that comes over me sometimes.
 "Ch. I understand these accidents '' she retorted angrily. "Oh. how you plot; how you scheme to get his love