The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1905-05-11
wright. isas. by W. II. Iicarst.)

any interest or To enter into the spirit
of Il. the thing had dragged 30 long
the enthusiasm was all dissipatcd. the
players went through their parts like
marioncttcs. and as the 2tth was only
three days OF. it looked as though the
whole AFFAIR would be failure.
II was out of the question TO give IL
up now. however. for the members OF
the club had pledged themselves for
ESQ toward the fund. so there was
nothing To do but see the miserable
thing through TO the bitter end and
then give up the East End Amateur
Dramatic club forever. Yes. indeed.
forever and ever.
when nobody else felt any RESPONSE
biiity or tried TO take himself seriously.
why should she7 This decision cost her
more than any one guessed. Tor "
meant the death blow to the hope she
had secretly cherished Of trcading the
professional boards.
As the president OF the club. she had
selected the play. unselhshiy reserving
| for herself the star role. given the use
OF her music room for the rehearsals.
and worked very hard TO keep the 9TH
er members satisfied with their roles.
Torrance. the company was no nearer
perfection than u was a month ago. IL
did seem hard after all she had done.
The nurse. who was just beginning To
get q little meaning in her lines.
catches the influenza, the stupid car
penter sends up n balcony 10 high that
Juliet must needs stoop To keep her
head from being lost I'm the clouds. and
Jack. the perfidious. has had the inpu.
dencc to tell her that her Juliet would
be a good Gaiates.
Although she did not know Il. this
Was the sole reason for her detection.
The balcony and the influenza were not
| irrenediai. but her quarrel with Jack.
| I'm the fight Of her ovcrwrought nerves,
certainly was. III he had been decentiy
civil and apologsxed afterwards she
would not have cared. but he had
iaughed-laughed outright IN her face
| and before the whole company. rs III
he had thought u n good joke.
And she had been saying such nice
things about his Romeo. She had
even confided To Tybait that Jacks
Romeo was Mt times really inspiring.
but. OF course. that was all mistake.
/ for Jacks acting could never have
been anything but abominabic.
The energy with which she came to
this decision brought the clotheshorse
and the hysterical leading lady Ia the
! floor with crash. Frisr Laurence and
| Lady Capuiet, who had been dancing
| I'm the hall. came running In tn zee what
was the matter. and the sneezing nurse.
still full OF her role. ran To Juliet with
| something that sounded like:
| What. no. Ladybirdl Dow. what's
\ the matter with your" While the per-
fidious Romeo sauntercd In and cooily
picked Juliet up and deposited her on
top OF an improvis>i tomb.
"will you please just I-leaNe me
alone. Mr.. Davis." sobbed the offended
Juliet to her astonished rcscuer.
| why. what have I done?" exclaimed
Romeo. You didn't thisk meant what
I said about Gaiatea. did you? Well,
anyway. take Il all back. You'd be n
better Niobc now"
| And Jack. lost Ia every spark Of
/ decency. seemed tn think he was WHY.
and he laughed again.
/ When nj last the troupe had dis
| perscd. and the hcartless Jack had
! called back from the door az II nothing
had happened. Cord night. little
Niobe: hope you'll feel better toinor-
row." she dragged he bruised knees.
that still bore the impress OF the
clotheshorse. upstairs. and crcpt into
her little bed. where. a.Dne I'm the dark.
the tragedy. the tomb and the family
| losses Of the real juliet seemed rs
nothing compared with the sorrows
she. Amy Harper. had Tn bear.
The following day Miss Amy was
kept prisoner In her room and
! threatened with a rest cure when her
did not care tn take things more calm
Is: and the violets Jack sent up as "A
peace Offering were promptly bestowed
on the houscmaid, who was down with
the measles.
That night a very red-eyed reproach-
ful Juliet listened To Romeo's cntrcaty
Ia Speak again. bright angel" But
the bright angels voice was shaken
with anger when. after having clectri-
fed her audience of chairs with the
lines that led up to--"l'll frown and be
preserve and say"---thc incorrlgable
Jack had muttered so loud everyone
In the wings could hear. Lord. no!
Don't be any more pervcrse than you
naturally are"
The night OF the cath the company
assembled for the first time promptly
| at the appointed hour The stage ear
penter. costumer. property man and
dresser were all Tuning and squabblInE
over bclatcd details. hut the players
themselves were preternaturally calm,
nerved by a grim determination io do
or die. owing. perhaps. tn dose OF
bromide Mrs. Harper had administered
To- the actors as they entered the door.
Amys fears that something might &c
wrong. that some one might forget his
lines or be- seized with stage fright.
/ were somewhat aliaycd when she saw
how the crucial test affected her.
She was perfectly composed. knew
! every line forward and backward. and
felt serencly confident she was going On
| acuuIt herself as the president Of the
East End Amateur Dramatic club
! should.
She had. In fact TO far recovered
from the despair OF few moments be-
fore that she had asked an out -of town
manager to be present with a view 10
trying her fortune on the stage.
The nervousness and anxiety az the
past few weeks had told somewhat on
her looks. but ahen she saw the re.
Election or juliet In her ball gown she
began to feel there was after all some
sweetness and satisfaction tc be had
out OF life. although she was not ON
speaking terms with Jack.
The nurse was sufficiently recovered
tn go through with her part. and she
certainty did do n creditably. and. as
for Romeo. a week ago she would have
said he Was superb.
The house filled early. for the assoc
citation had conscientlousiy SID twice
a. many tickets as there were chairs.
~ the play progressed and the house
grew more enthusiastic the players re-
sponded to- the encouragement OF a
sympathetic audience and did better
than they had ever done at the re-
hearsal.
To be sure. Mcrcutio's sword. made
OF chinese coins, fell To pieces with the
but he had slipped II into his pocket so
dcftly that the miEhap had not been
generally noticed: and the moon. which