The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1906-11-16
BY Elizabeth Mccracken.

- H''' -
had not yet been opened. Seton smiled
slightly us he passed through the mali
entrance and made his way to tn
second balcony. He could scarcely dc
less than convict himself of whiinsic.
ality in preparing to spend an entir'
afternoon in viewing another person!
performance from IN unreserVed seat
Seton's w parts We're usually siren
uouS to such Il degree that he gave
but one matinee ~ week. He had no
often devoted his consequent leisure to
the matinee performances of stars; blu
latterly his leisure had become of lit
tie value. and he gave it freely to The
pursuit of any fancy which promised
momentary diversion.
Finding a seat in the fourth row, he
dropped into 1T and took out a news
paper, but the light was so dim that
after a moments straining, he let the
paper fall to the loor. He sighed some
what impatiently, and looked at his
watch.
Presently the audience began to as
semblc. singly and in small groups;
the lights increased i'm number. and tho
members of the orchestra began tun-
1ng their Instruments.
When the crowd poured into the sec
N balcony he opened his eyes AND
watched with interest it's struggle fol
seats. The second balcony Of a the
alter would seem to possess the power
to awaken, ever i'm persons not usually
addicted to jostling and pushing. that
primitive instinct which would award
the best to him who first can seize it.
Seton looked at the crowd with curious
pleasure and Wondered if in any either
part of the theater such eager antic-
ipation could be found. He ~speculated
as TO the reasons for the marked en-
thuslasm of the people who rushed
past him, rever suspecting that the
faint bohemianism of the second bal
cony has of itself an alluring charm
and incites independently a youthful
hilarity utterly out OF the question in
& p~roscenium box.
wonder they call it a rush. he
said cloud. To his surprise, his neigh
Dor on the left, n middle-aged woman,
with a careworn face, replied:
NO. it's not a WONDER" she re-
marked. such pushing l never saw
and they call this a civilized country"
THE pushing is part of the fun" he
heard a girl Jack of him say, with a
ut this revelation. He had been about
to conclude that the fun was the COM
pensatlon for the pushing.
The fun was none the less large and
genuine. He had come to look at the
play from the standpoint of the people
himself looking at nothing so much as
the people themselves. They We're so
diverse; they ranged from newsboys to
college instructors, from not Very we'll
pred schoolgirls to women who We're
even distinctive in appearance, and
they were equally. If as diversely, i'm
terested in the performance.
Seton glanced from the woman on his
lett to his neighbor on the right. who
was also q ona She was intent up
on the performance; and Seton's glance
heightened almost into a stare. Her
manner of looking at the play was UNI
Hike that of any other person whom he
had seen in the balcony. h was
seeking the auses of its effects.
TO Seton, a member of the profession,
TINS was almost instantly apparent.
When the audience laughed, she did not
laugh; she knitted her brows and riv-
eted her attention lhe more colsely
interrupted by an Involuntary outburst
or applause. She leaned forward in
more intense interest.
She is an acress or a playwright
she might be either" Seton thought.
He glanced again at her.
Her utter absorption in the play and
the varying OF her expressions as she
watched it alone gave her a certain
beauty. In addition. her hair was soft
and dark, and she had blue Irish eyes.
The distance from the line of her ayes
to the tilt of her chin was artistically
short, and her mouth had a wistful
sweetness and charm which also sue-
gested an Irish ancestry. She was
leaning forward, but Seton guessed
tina her height was above the average
she looks more like an actress. than
a playwright" he thought. as hi CON
templated her. she is almost beauti-
tul; and she has a most professional
occur to him that she might indie
n unprofessionally have
possessed both beauty and that critical
appreciation which would resuppo a
personal professional interest.
He looked at her very nearly as in
tenly as she looked at the stage. She
SO oblivious of anything but
the stage that he forgot to be guarded;
n when she turned unexpectedly and
ooked at him. without allowing him
to u his head he was for an
instant confused. In the same instant
observed that the curtain was de-
.scending nd that her attention had
naturally been IKE from the stage.
There was no shade of ANNOYANCE in
expression as she glanced at him.
10 his surprise she started very Slight
~; INC her face softened as she turned
1t away from him. He supposed that
she had recognized him, II he was the
more convinced that she belonged to
the profession, for he was aware that
very few persons who had known him
only on the stage recognized him when
they saw him off it. He did not know
the girl who saw an act Of a play
with such quick and clear intentness
had as intently seen his face and had
been startled and moved by it's drawn
and haggard lines.
She was Jung than her appear
ance n her keen !ntentness had sue-
gested to Seton. AT the end Of the next
act she turned and spoke to him. with
q singular lack of convention in which
there was yet not the slightest lack of
and breeding. If she felt any
need of justification of the
ton other than the mans face she
1T possibly in the fact that she
was in the second balcony.
Don't you think this rather a re-
markable play?" she said.
Seton could not see in the question J
anything which strengthened his the
Dry that she was a member of his pro
fession or his supposition that she had
recognized him.. AS most persons re-
garded the particular play as rather
remarkable, he could, in fact. see moth
Ing in her criticism especially indica-
YES" he said, IT think it is, a very
remarkable play" Seton did not add
that he had even negotiated with a
to producing it himself and had
suddenly abandoned the plan when it
had been more than half completed.