The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-07-05


herself-the Lady Of Haddon. She
was born to it. If that girl hasn't
walked as ghost sometime or other,
put me down for 92O in a hospital:
And no salary, sir. not single penny e
=. Immense said Lacombe, but i'm
passed thru the hall and went out to-
the theater almost adjoining the hotel.
"Thcre's Clayaton,' he went on
quickly, "it IS not often he sits out a
sWord.and- cape, drama
rbsi h II sit 6mesf ito eng nt and
Let 3 get, my boy, it's just on the half
hour. We must be there. '':s
What precisely would have happened
had so great u man not been there, the
merely humble individual might hard
" dare to say. As events went, Charles
great deal Of splendid ceremony, and
giving the many-colored lackey shill-
ing, strolled pompously into the street
with his cigar still alight. Passing His
Majesty 3, before whose doors. the
boards House Full'' were eonspicu-
ously displayed, the pair walked leis-
urely on to the front entrance of the
Carlton theater, and were there graft
fed by one of those spectaclcs which
London alone can display upon the first
night of a new production.
Cabs, carriages, electric broughams,
even the motorcars, arrived in quick
succession before the brightly lighted
in London. From these emerged WON
en- in blazing evening dress, men who
had dined, and men capricious and ir-
ritable because they had not dined-
young girls to whom all plays were a
dream Of delight, mere boy; VIII, al
'..rot:' As for the critics, they were
chiefly patrons of hansoms; tho a few
arrived on foot, two and two, each try
ing to learn what the other would say
about performance. which many had
witnessed at: a dress rehearsal. Short
men and tall men, bearded men and
bald men,, they cared nothing for the
success of the play, but everything
for the glory of the notices they must
write. A historical drama could not
fail to give them fine opening. They
lolled back easily in their stalls as men
whose literary knives were for the mo-
ment: sheathed, but would be busy
anon.
The theater was packed to the very
ceiling when the curtain rose, and few
of the amiable first ghters were miss
ing from the audience. Famous law
yers. doctors of letters and doctors of
medicine, editors of Illustrated papers
and editors of papers that were not
illustrated, literary ladies and ladies
Who&Were not literary, noVelists, essay
lists, poets; that curious quasi Bohemian
crowd which constitutes London first
night house, stood for most of the arts
and many of the sciences of our day;
and yet in the main brought a child 8
heart to the play as Bohemian crowds
will. The cynics of 18, mostly repre-
senting halfpenny evening papers, were
among the few who denounced the dra-
ma before they had seen it. "'Had-
don Hall on the stage again-:why,"
said they, "there have been twenty
Di Vernons in our time, and why should
this Di Vernon find mercy9N She was
already in the coach of failure 50 far
as they were concerned. The curtain
rose upon their mutterings and did not
still them.
1t was a pretty scene, the park: of ia.
nous Haddon Hall and the meeting be-
tween pretty Dorothy Vernon and her
young lover beneath the sheltering
yews. The unknown debutante. Eta
Remney, received lukewarm welcome
from the audience; but all admitted the
grace of her attitudes, the charm in her
voice and the earnestness she brought
to her assistance. A little amateurish
in the earlier moments of the play, she
warmed to her work anon: and love
scene which would have been ridicu-
lous had it been i'll played, she lifted
by natural talent to a pinnacle at least
of liberation. So the curtain fell to
ooilO applause, VIC SIctC 1ulpAc-
sario, Mr.. Charles lizard again ven
tured the opinion that she was "bul-
ly,' tho his voice had not that conf
dent ring it possessed at the dinner
table. Could the girl make failure
Of it after ala It was just possible.
And undoubtedly the. play was not a
masterpiece. r.
So the second act passed and found
him not a little anxious, and he sat
far back in his box when the curtain
rose upon the third and concentrated
nance The scene was that Of the
Long Gallery at Haddon; the episode
midnight meeting between Dorothy
and her lover. Dressed in spotless white
with the softest black hair tumbline
about her almost te her knees, YOU'VE
face that Reynolds might have loved