The evening world., 1911-03-06

BAL '@1 W.
speak OF the ghost. called her a SHY
lite fool ard then, as she was the
first TO believe in ghosts In general.
and the Opera ghost in particular. at
once asked for details.
Have you seen him?'
"As plainly as I see you now" said
little Jammes. whore legs were giving
way beneath her, and she dropped with
q moan into a chair.
Thereupon little Giry-the girl with
eyes black as slices, hair black as mr.
a swarthy complexion and a poor little
skln stretched over poor little bones
little CRY added:
'If that's the ghost, he's very ugly"
"Oh, yes,' cried the chorus OF ballet
girls.
And they all began TO talk together.
The ghost had appeared to them In the
shape Of n gentleman In dress c!othes'
who had suddenly stood before them In
the passage, without their knowing
where he came from. lie seemed 10
have come straight through the wall.
Pooh" said one of them. Who had
more or less kept her head. You see
the ghost everywhere
And 1t was true. For several. months,
there had been nothing discussed a. the
Opera but this ghost In dress clothes
who stalked about the building. from
top to bottom. like a shadow. who spoke
to nobody. to whom nobody dared speak
and who vanished as soon as he was
seen, no one knowing how or where.
As became a real ghost. he made no
noise In walking.
People began by laughing and making
fun of this specter dressed like a man OF
fashion or an undertaken: but the ghost
legend soon swelled TO pro-
portions among the corps de ballet. All
the girls pretended to have met this
supernatural being more or less often.
And those who laughed the loudest were
not the most At ease. When he did
not show himself, he betrayed his pres
ence or his passing b. accident, comic
or serious. for which the general su-
perstition held him responsible.
Had any one met with a fall. or SUI
fered a practical Joke at the hands OF
one OF the other girls. or lost a powder
pun, 1t was at once the fault OF the
ghost. OF the Opera ghost.
After all, who had seen him? You
meet so many men In dress-clothes at
the Opera who are not ghOsts. But
this dress-suit had a peculiarly OF its
own II covered a skeleton. AT least,
so the ballet-girls said. And, OF course,
It had a deaths head.
Was all this serious? The truth Is
that the idea OF the skeleton came from
the description OF the ghost given by
Joseph Buquet, the chief scene-sh!f er
"hA Ia .sgaN1v aL.v, -. ,1-.A = =
run up against the ghost on the little
staircase, by rho footliGhts. which leads
to the collars" lie had seen him for
a second-for the ghost had ned-and 10
any one who cared to listen to him he
said:
Tie Is extraordinarily thin and his
dress-coat hangs on a skeleton frame.
HIS eyes are so deep that you can hardly
see the fixed pupils You just ace two
big black holes, as IN a dead mans skull.
His s&in. which Is stretched across his
bones like a drumhead, Is not white, hui
n nasty yellow. His nose IS so little
worth talking about tina you can't sec
It slde-facc; and the absence OF that
nose Is a horrible thing TO look at. Al
the hair he has is three or four Ions
dark locks on his forehead and behind
his ears
THIS chiN' s'c0c-sh'fcr was a Serious,
sober, steady Won, very slow at imag.
ming things, His words were received
with interest and amazement; and soor
there were other pC1plc To gay thnt .heV
too mad met n man IN drCss-clo'NCs with
o deaths he 4 on his shoulders. SEN
slble men wlN had wind OF tho story
began by saving that Joseph Ruquct
mad been the victim OF n toxic paved
~ one Of ms ASSISTANTS. And thew, one
-fter the other, t'ere came n series OF
Incidents 50 curious and so inc"pli'1hl0
that the very s~hrewdest people began
TO feel uneasy.
For Instance, a fireman is n brave fell
low! He fears nothing, least OF all fire
Well. the fireman In question, who had
zone to make n round OF inspection In
the cellars, and who, II seems. had ven
tured a l.tle furthor than usual. sid.
denly ~roappe0rel on To staGe, pale,
scared, trembling, VITA hla eyes start
ing out OF his head. and practically
tainted in the arms of the proud mothe,
OF little Jamntos, And why? Because
he had seen coming toward aim, at the
level OF his head, nut without a body
attached to II, n head OF fire, And. az
said, a fireman Is not afraid of IRE.
The hremnn's name was Pampin.
The corps de ballet was nung into
confederation, At FIRST SIGHT this fiery
head in no way co~rrespJnded with 10,
seph Buquet's description of the ghost
But tho young ladies soon persuaded
fhAvngaIyea that tho phost h~I ~----.a|