Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-03-20

~ Saw, as Clearly az . Now See You,
Black Shadow Riding a White
Horse"
house through the first little passage
on the left. Then they made their
way through the front rows of stalls
and looked at Box Five on the grand
tier They could not see II well, be-
cause It was half in darkness and be-
cause great covers were flung over
the red velvet of the lodges OF ali the
boxes.
They were almost alone in the
huge. gloomy house: and a great ST.
lence surrounded them. II was the
. time when most of the stage-hands go
out for a drink. The staff had left
: the boards for the moment. leaving a
scene half set. A few days OF light, a
wan. sinister light. that seemed to
have been stolen from an expiring
luminary. fell through some opening
or other upon an old tower that raised
its pasteboard battlements on the
stage; everything. in this deceptive
/ light. adopted a fantastic shape. In
the orchestra stalls, the drugget COW
ering them looked like an angry sea,
3 whose glaucous waves had been sud
denly rendered stationary by secret
. order from the storm phantom. who,
: as everybody knows, is called Adamas-
I ton. NM. Moncharmin and Richard
were the shipwrecked mariners amid
this motionless turmoil OF a calico sea.
They made for the left boxes. plow-
ing their way like sailors who leave
their ship and try 10 struggle TO the
shore. The eight great polished col
umns stood up in the dusk like SO
many huge piles supporting the
threatening. crumbling, big-bellied
cliffs whose layers were represented
by the circular. parallel, waving lines
: OF the balconies OF the grand, first
and second tiers Of boxes. At the top
( right on top of the cliff, lost In NJ
Lenepveu's copper ceiling. figures
& grinned and grimaced. laughed anc
jeered at NM. Richard and Monchar
minis distress. And yet these figures
Z were usually very serious. Theil
{ names were Isis. Amphitrits. Hebe
> Pandora, Psyche. Thetis, Pomona
r
Yes. Arethusa herself and Pandora
; whom We all know by her box. looked
; down upon the two new managers o
Z the opera. who ended by clutching a
some piece OF wreckage and from
there stared silently at Box Five OF
the grand tier.
have said that they were dis
7 tressed. At least, ! presume so. NJ
3 Moncharmin. IN any case. admits tina
he was impressed. To quote his owl
words, in his Memoirs:
This moonshine about the oper
ghost in which, since We FIRST too
over the duties OF NM. Poligny an
Debienne. We had been so NIGEL
STEPPED" style is NO
! always irreproachable--had no douh
? ended by binding my imaginative an
also nv visual faculties. II may b
that the exceptional surroundings 4
sYbkh We found ourselves, In IN
midst OF an incredible silence, in
pressed us 10 an unusual extent
may be that We were the sport OF
/ kind OF hAllucination brought abor
by the semi-darkness OF the theats
and the partial gloom that filled 30
Five. AT any rate. saw and Richar
also saw a shape IN the box. Richar
said nothing. nor / either. But v
spontaneously seized each other
,hand. We stood like that for SON
minutes, without moving. with OF
eyes fred on the same point; but n
squire hac disappeared. Then "
went out and, in the lobby. comm
nicated our impressions TO each 9th,
and talked about the shape tt
misfortune was that my shape WI
mot In the least like Richards. I hs
seen a thing like . deaths head res
FnE Cd the ledge Of the box, where's
Ricnsrd saw the shape Of an o