Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-01-09


don't want to give a double show tonight
one on the stage and the other in the front
row.
Lets wait and see what happensN
Bracket advised. Y
The orchestra struck up the overture, a
merry, tinkling tune which rose above the
incessant hum of the audience Janefski
watched the curtain impatiently. 1t
seemed to him like thick wall that sep
arated him from his Deborah. Finally
the big sheet was lifted slowly to the
wings, disclosing village setting, in which
gamboled large chorus of young women
dressed in a riot of color. The heads of the
three strangers peered above the orchestra
pit the spyglasses glued to Janefski' S eyes.
The stage manager burst into Brackets
box, an angry scowl on his face. What's
the Teller with the field glasses down there
trying to do, bust up the show" he de-
manded. Hes demoralizing the COM
pany:"
''There'll be trouble when l find out
who put up that job on the house.
Bracket returned.
On the stage the two bearded faces and
the curly head of Abe caused a buzz of
surprise which halted the action of the
comic opera for an instant. Then broad
smiles appeared on the faces of the play
ers. smiles of derisive wonder as the per-
formers looked at the shabby trio in the
front row. Through his glasses, Janefski
scanned the faces of the women on the
stage. He gazed long at the principals as
they came before the footlights; but he
did not see the face for which he was look
ing His bli9hted expectancy contorted
his countenance into look of pain. The
opera was in full swing: but he was I'M
moved by the music or the action. Abe
interrupted to explain what was going on;
but his efforts were swept aside with an
impatient nudge.
SUDDENLY a girl in peasant costume
~ curveted on the stage. Janefski's
glasses dropped from his eyes; his hand
impulsively gripped solomon wrist. He
sank back in his seat with long sigh, as
if a heavy burden had dropped from his
shoulder.
1T is my Deborah" he murmured
ut is my grill
Throughout the performance his eyes
remained steadfast on the girl He sat
back in his seat, his mouth gaping, his
nostrils dilated, like an animal quivering
in fear of new sound. The pulsations of
his heart alternated between loud throbs
and weak futterings. At times his blood
coursed through his veins like stream
struck by a freshet; then it seemed to
COngedl anu uIy up Illc NSlIlS anu dI lcI-
les. He grew feverishly hot and appre-
hensively cold. Although he said not
word, he began to feel vague fear that
perhaps, after all his search would end in
failure He recalled everything that Solo
mon said about the children in America;
how they outgrew their old conditions.
He began to realize that his daughter had
found a new environment, place in the
universe apart from his own. The realiza-
ton that she moved in world of which he
knew nothing chilled his blood; the close
kinship of father and daughter that he
had cherished in his heart all these years
was in danger of being shattered. Then
came moments of relaxation in which the
colors returned to his dream and the
bounding hope that had propped him
through all the years of separation from
his family carried his mind to luminous
vision of happy elimination, as he saw
himself in the embrace of his wife and his
daughter and son.
To Solomon, Janefski transmitted a
feeling of misty terror, as if he heard the
rumbling of distant avalanche. He was
uneasy in his seat, fearful that his COM
panion was about to be buried under the
wreckage of disappointed love. Only Abe
enjoyed the performance and was sorry
when If was over and the audience filed