Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-10-02

/ boxes upon the little balcony: il
was he who twined the tendrils
about the wires, and it was he who
| at all seasons furnished the gilded
porcelain vases that held the flow
/ ers.
These flowers were a great luxury
10 Zette.
This state Of things did not long
continue. however. The young girl
1 was now twenty and Jacques TWEEN
/ tv-six. One evening he presented
/ his friends with tickets to the cir
Gus. 1t was the last day Of long
continued fair, and Zette and her
mother had nothing to do. So they
decked themselves in their best and
went early.
/ Nine. F1uory was much amused
with the horses, the rope dancers,
| the clowns, the trained dogs. Zette
| thought only of Jacques, whose
name on the programme occupied
| line to itself and whose apparatus
was hanging up at the top of the
high tent. The latter consisted of
bars, with copper balls that shone, a
maze of trapezes, ropes and pulleys,
and the young girl, little frighten-
ed, inquired if it all was secure.
At last the first part Of the per
Torrance was over and, keeping time
to a slow waltz, Jacques appeared.
He was as beautiful as a god in his
silk tights, that displayed to advan-
tage his sueerbly nodded form, and,
for the rest, his costume consisted
of a black satin calecon, spangled
with gold.
After having responded by bow
to the applause of the crowd and by
smile to Zette's smile, he darted
up rope to his trapeze.
The preliminaries were gone
through with amid prolonged bra
vos, for the handsome gymnast was
a favorite, and it was truly a pleas
ure to see him act-the supple body
so plant, yet so marvelously exact
| IN its movements.
Then there came silence-even
the orchestra was still.
1t was to be the hit of the even
ing and new feat that was to give
an added glory to the circus. He
was to leap from one trapeze to an
other, with his face and head cover
ed, then suddenly drop from his
glddy height upon net stretched
below him. The two trapezes were
swinging with a regular movement.
Jacques, standing on a little board,
his head enveloped in a black vel
vet bag, put forth his hand blindly.
The crowd held its breath. The
man was going to jump-he had
jumped!
a piercing cry rent the air.
Missing the second trapeze, which
had been badly regulated, Jacques
fell to the net, but it proved too
frail to support his weight, and,
striking upon the seats, he rolled to
the ground, where he lay motion
less.
With cry of horror Zette sprang
to her feet, rigid and pale, her eyes
fixed upon the spot where the men
were now carrying away the appar-
emily lifeless body of her friend.
Then, suddenly selling her moth
er's arm, Come" she said in a hol-
low voice.
Breaking through the crowd the
two women reached the stables, but
were refused admission. For long
while they remained at the entrance,
listening to what was said around
them, but no one knew anything.
Finally Nine. Fluory saw a clown
whom she recognized as one of
jacques friends. He was just com
ing out of the refreshment- room
when she called him.
''The net broke the force of the
fall, " said the man, whose face look
ed troubled, even under the paint.
"Fhe doctor says he will be lame for
life and that this ends for him his
profession as a gymnast. Poor fell
low! But he has something laid
up for rainy day.
Nine. Fluory looked at Zette. She
was very pale, and her eyes were
fixed upon the man as he spoke as
though trying to find if he lied. At
last she said, ''Let us CO."
And, thanking the clown by GEES
ture, she left the circus.
The two women did not speak as
they traversed the grounds of the
fair, and they were still silent as
they assembled their own little stair
way. But when Nine. Fluory had
lighted the candle she saw Zette
sitting beside the bed, with a strange
smile on her lips. She felt frighten-
ed for her and went to her