The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-08-01

above the heads OF the back pit like
colored bubbles. and Flora forgot the
sapphire in the triple spell Of the
singing. the darkness. and the face
she was yet to see She felt relaxed
and released from her guard by this
darkness around her, that blotted out
the sea of faces beneath that dis
solved the walls and high galleries.
that obscured the very outline OF the
box where she sat, until she seemed
to be poised halfway up void of
darkness, looking into a pit In the
hollowness of which a voice was sing
ing
The stage was a narrow shelf of
wood swung In that void from which
the voice sang, and bare finger of
light followed 1T about from place
to place The sweet. searching tenor
notes. the semblance of passion and
reality the gesticulating Frenchmen
threw over all the stage, and the cres~
cendo of the tragedy carried her into
a mood that barred out Ella, barred
out Clara, barred out Harry more than
any: but, unaccountably. Kerr was still
with her. He was there by no will
of hers but by some essence OF his
own. some quality that linked him, as
1t linked her. to the passionate subtle
ties of life. He seemed to her the
eager spirit that was prompting and
putting forward this comedy and trag-
edy playing on before her. She heard
him reasserted, vigorous. lawless, wan
dering, in the voice Of the mimic
strolling player addressing his mimic
audience. The appeal of the tenor to
the voiceless galleries. Underneath !
this little play we show, there is
another play" seemed indeed the very
voice Of Kerr repeating itself. And
with the climax of the sharp tragedy
in the middle of the comic stage she
placed him again, but placed him this
time in the mimic audience looking on,
,off IL,
rather as If he watched the play and
played it, too.
The lights went up with a spring.
A wave of motion pickering over the
house, the talking voices burst forth
all at once, and she saw him, really
saw him for the first time that even
ing, as in her fancy. part Of the audi
ence; as in her fancy. neither applaud
ing nor dissenting, yet with what a diff
ferencel He leaned back in his chair.
and leaned his head a little back, as
X, for WEAKNESS, he wished there were
rest behind it; and how indiferently.
how critically, how levelly he sur
veyed the fiuttered house. and the
figures in the box beside him, How
foreign he appeared TO the ardent spirit
who had dominated the dark: how
emptied of the heat of imagination.
how worn, how dry; and even in his
salience, now singularly pathetici He
was neither the satanic person OF the
first night, nor her comrade OF the
Preside hills. And II the expression
of his face was not quite so cheap as
cynicism, it was just the absence of
belief in anything.
She felt a lump in her throat. an
ache of the cruelest disappointment. as
though some masker, masking as the
fire of life. had suddenly removed the
covering of his face and showed her
the burnt out bones beneath. The
shift from what she remembered him
to what he now appeared was too
rapid and considerable for her. She
found herself looking at him through
mist of tears-there in the heart of
publicity. in the middle of the circle
of red velvet curtainsi
He turned and saw her. She watched
n smile of the frankest pleasure rising
as IL We're. to the surface of his weary
preoccupation. Something had de-
lighted him. Why, Ii was herself
lust her being there. And she could
only helplessly blink at him. Was
ever anything so stupid as TO be caught
in tears over nothing For the next
moment he had caught her. She knew
by the change of his look. interroga-
tive amused. incredulous. He straight
ened and leaned forward
Really" he said, you must remem-
Der that little man has only gone out
for a glass Of beer.
so he thought II was the tenor who
! had brought her to the point Of tears.
''Ah. why do you say that?" she pro-
tested.
He continued TO smile indulgently
upon her. would you really rather
believe it true?'
Il don't know. but I wish you hadn't
thought of the beer"
He brought the glare of his monocle
to bear full upon her. why not? 1t
is all we make sure Of
SO he had taken that side of 1t. BY
his words as well as his looks he re-
pudiated all the gallant show Of ro-
nance he had paraded to her before,
and had taken up the cause OF the
world as fatty as Harry could have
done.
"Oh, II to be sure is all you want"
she burst out; but you don't mean IT.
wouldn't you rather have something
beautiful you weren't sure of. than
something certain that didn't natter
He nodded to this quite casually, as
il it were an old acquaintance.
ooh. yes but the time comes round
when you want to be sure of something.
The sun never sets twice alike over
Mont Pelee. but you can always get
the same brand of lager today that
you had the week before" He looked
at her with a faint amusement. And
by your expression I take 1t you don't
know how fine some of those brands
are Life is not half bad-even when
it is only a means to the beer"
Under these garish lights. in the mid
die of this theater.of people, facing the
!. bland. almost banal, stare OF that
monocle. IL looked exceedingly probable
that after all. in spite of her dreaming
this was what life would prove to be-
But she hated the thought as she hated
that Kerr should be the one to show it
to her; as she would have hated her
ring IT, after all its splendor in the
shop, IL should have turned out to be
a piece of colored glass.
NO, no. I won't believe you,' she
stoutly denied him. There is more
in life than you can touch. You're not
like yourself to say there is not
He laughed, but rather shortly,
My dear child. forgive me; I'm sulky
tonight 1 feel. as felt at Is. that
the world has treated me badly I've
lost my luck"
The way his voice dropped at the
last sounded to her the weariest thing
she had ever heard. He settled back
in his chair again. and looked moodily
out across the brilliant house.