The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-04-29

G HE SAT quite motionless. her
O beautiful hands lying idly in her
lap. her eyes. more beautiful still,
| fixed with an icy indifference on space.
She was aware that people were look
Ing at her. far more earnestly than at
| the stage. but the knowledge did not
change her attitude by so much as the
| flicker of an eyelid. She was used to
being looked at, and bore II with a
naughty patience, a magnificent resig-
nation. What were such looks to her?
She had quiet manner. in a century
when manners. as rule, are not quiet
are, perhaps, indeed. hardly manners
at ala slow way of speaking. and
that type of beauty which is so delicate
that 1t seems cold. 1t was impossible
to imagine any vulgar passion ruffiing
the exquisite serenity OF her features.
She was always serene. always, in a
| sense. gracious and graceful. She was
| not. possibly. amusing. but then that
would have been out of drawing for
her. She never laughed, she seldom
| smiled. She had a way OF lifting her
! eyebrows when people made jokes in
her presence which was so indescriba-
bly, disconcerting that the offense was
never repeated. Not that her look sug-
| gested anger-far from 1t. 1t held.
however. a mild but measureless Won
der at the absurdity of human nature
which would have CALLED rock.
People called her stupid, but that was
merely i'll nature. 1t was not her me-
| tier to be brilliant. She had been a
| beauty ever since she could remember.
| She provided the world with something
| to look at - something emphatically
worth looking at-and she suffered
their regard with a silence which just
missed being contemptuous, as it did
tonight.
The play was going on. but she did
not look at the stage She had seen it
before. She did not know why she had
come. unless IL had been-yes. that was
it. She wanted to think to mediate,
to understand. before. Tomorrow it
| would be too late to understand.
Tomorrow it would all be different.
| The pedestal would be empty-her
pedestal. from which she looked down
unsmilingly upon the homage of an ad-
miring world. She breathed a shade
more quickly. and the diamonds at her
throat made a sudden glitter of fire.
She was so tired of it all-so terribly.
deadly tired; and tomorrow she would
be free A little shop girl in
| the pit was looking up at her with
round childish eyes of admiration, and
trying to make out how her hair was
done. How beautiful she was. this
white goddess. with her pale, lovely
AdCts anu Htl VI
How heavenly. to be like her. beautiful
and happy.
Tomorrow. her thought went on. she
would be free. This was. In a sense
the last night of her life-the life that
had been hers until now. 1t had been a
happy life. according to most peoples
ideas of happiness-the little shop girls
eyes were still upon heri-it had, most
certainly, been prosperous, successful
L.
body envied her, she knew. With a
shiver. she realized. as she sat there,
how little she was to be envied If they
had understood.
And now she was going to throw
il all to the winds-this good fortune,
this success which was boring her 10
death. She was going TO be alive in
stead of a white goddess on a pedestal.
She was going to descend from her
pedestal for ever and find humanity-in
the mud, perhaps. She smiled family.
little, scornful smile. oh, she was not
a fool-she understood.
She sat motionless. and her eyes fell
on the stage. The play was going on
il was an ineffabiy stupid play. The
hero was Just making love 20 the he
roine. and talking the most supreme
nonsense-the usual nonsense. a faint
sensation of wonder seized her as she
thought of all the people in this great
building who were sitting watching so
stupid a scene.
1t was stupid of course. The Duke
had once-but that was long ago. She
had snubbed him gently. she remem-
bered. She had married him. and that
was quite enough. She was not going
to submit to being made love TO as well.
Besides, his love-making did not inter
est her in the least.
And yet now-for st. Charles sake.
Her diamonds flashed again. For st.