Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1912-02-16
CHAPTER !.
10 II the Ghostf

bSUleuu0 anu fUli6uy, tuo udIIdseiS
of the opera, were giving last gala
performance to mark their retirement
Suddenly the dressing-room OF La
Sorelli, one of the principal dancers
was invaded by half-a-dozen young
ladies OF the ballet. They rushed in
amid great confusion, some giving
vent to forced laughter, others to
cries of terror. Sorelli, who wished
to be alone for moment to run
through" the speech which she was to
make to the resigning managers,
looked around angrily at the mad and
tumultuous crowd. 1t was little
Jammes who gave the explanation in
trembling voice:
ITS the ghost!" And she locked
the door.
Have you seen him?"
"As plainly as see you now" said
little Jammes.
Thereupon little CRY added:
IF that's the ghost, he's very
ugly"
"Oh. yes!" cried the chorus of bal
let-girls.
And they all began to talk togeth-
er. The ghost had appeared to them
in the shape OF gentleman in dress
clothes, who had suddenly stood be-
fore them In the passage. He seemed
| to have come straight through the
wall
For several months there had been
nothing discussed at the opera but
this ghost in dress clothes who stalked
about the building, from top to bot
tom, like shadow, who spoke to no.
body, and who vanished as soon as.
he was seen. The dress-suit had
popularity of its own. It covered a
skeleton. At least, SO the ballet-girls
said
The idea of the skeleton came from
the description of the ghost given by
Joseph Buquet, the chief scene-shifter.
He had run up against the ghost on
the little staircase. by the footlights.
which leads to the cellars"
"He 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. His nose
Is SO little worth talking about that
you can't see 1t side-face; and the
absence of that nose is horrible
thing to look at
This chief scene shifter was a seri-
GUS, sober, steady man, very slow at
Imagining things. And then, one after
the other, there came series of in
cidents so curious that the shrewdest
people began to feel uneasy.
For instance, a fireman Is brave
fellow! Well, the fireman, who had
gone to make round of inspection in
the cellars and who had ventured q
little farther than usual, suddenly re-
appeared on the stage, pale. trem bling
and practically tainted in the arms
OF the mother Of Jammes. And why?
Because he had seen coming toward
him, at the level Of his head, but with.
out body attached to 1t, head OF
fire!
The nreman's name was Pampin.
To return to the evening in ques.
ton.
Sorelli, stealthily. with the tip OF
her pink right thumb-nail. made st.
Andrews cross on the wooden ring
which adorned the fourth finger OF
her left hand. She said to the little
ballet-girls:
Come. children. pull yourselves to-
gether! l dare say no one has ever
seen the ghost"
Gabriel saw him, too!" said
Jammes. "Only yesterday"
Gabriel, the chorus-master?"
why. yes, didn't you know? Ga,
briel was in the stage managers OF.
flee. Suddenly the door opened and
the Persian entered. You know the
Persian has the evil eye"
"Oh, yes!" answered the little bal.
let-girls in chorus.
And you know how superstitious
Gabriel u.s." continued Jammes. How.
ever, he is always polite. Well, the
doorway, Gabriel gave one jump from
his chair to the lock OF the cupboard,
SO as to touch iron! He rushed out
of the office like mailman, slipped
on the staircase and came down the
whole of the first flight ON his back.
l was just passing with mother. We
picked him up. Then he told us he
had seen the ghost behind the Per
sian, the ghost with the deaths head,
just like Joseph Buquets descrip-
toni"
A silence followed. 1t was broken
by little CRY.
Joseph Buquet would do better to
hold his tongue. Mother says the
ghost doesn't like being talked about"
And why does your mother say
NOT"
"Because-because-n
Ills reticence exasperated the curl
osity of the young ladies', who crowd.
ed round little Cary, begging her to
explain herself
II swore not to tell" gasped Meg.
But they left her no peace until
Meg began:
We'll, it's because of the private
box. It's Box Five, you know, the
box on the grand tier, next to the
on the left. Mother has
charge of it. No one has had it for
over a month, except the ghost, and
orders have been given at the box
office that it must never be Sold"
And does the ghost really come
.here?"
Yes. And he has NO dress-coat