The Washington times., 1913-02-19
THE DESTROYING ANGEL
By Louis Joseph Vance @@AM By @s E.gkA M@.&sgesa=

The divine Sara" Max answered.
his eyes shining.
i mean what is her name or the
stage, in private life?"
viction. Sara Laws the only name
she's ever worn in my acquaintance
with her,
At that moment, the applause having
substdcd to such an extent that 1t was
possible for her to make herself heard.
Tor and addressed one of the other
players. Her voice was clear. strong
and vibrant. yet sweet; but Whitaker
paid no heed to the lines she spoke.
Sight OF 1t set the seal Of certainty
upon conviction; she was one with Mary
Ladislas. He had forgotten her so COM
pletely in the lapse of years as to be
unable to recall her features and color
ing. yet he had needed only to see to
recognize her beyond any possibility OF
mistake. Those big, intensely burning
eyes; that drawn and pallid face; the
quick, nervous movements Of her thin
white hands: the slenderness of her
line and contour. in every gesture and
infection, she reproduced the Mary
Ladislas that he had married.
And yet-Max was whispering over
his shoulder:
Wonderful make-up-whatr'
Makeup" Whitaker retorted. She's
not made up-shs's herself to the last
detailr 4
Amusement glimmered in the mana :
gers round little eyes. You don't know
the stage" Then he checked the reply
that was shaping on Whitaker's lips
with warning lift Of his hand and
brows: ''Sh. Catch this, now! She s.
wonder in this scene"
The superbly-trained actress behind
the counterfeit Of the hunted and hun
CRY shop girl was holding the audience
in the hollows of her hands: 1t swayed
like wheat in a windstorm to the modu-
lations of her marvellous voice as It ran
through a passage-at-arms with the ter
magant apparently her mother. She
ceased suddenly to speak and turned
down to a chair near the footlights, fol-
lowed by torrent Of shrill vitupera-
ton under the lash Of which she was
Gniverins. after the manner Of a
Abruptly, pausing with her hands on
the back of the chair. there came 4
change. The actress had glanced across
the footlishts; Whitaker could not but
eyes of both focused for a mere instant
on the empty seat in the fourth back
row. A shade of additional pallor show
ed in the woman's face. She looked
quickly, questioningly, to the box of
her manager. .-
Seated as he was near the stage.
Whitaker's face could not hut stand
out in rugged relief. Illuminated b. the
reflected glow from the footlights. 1t
was inevitable that she should see his.
Her eyes fastened. dilating. upon his.
The scene faltered perceptibly. She
stood helpless. motlonless. transflxed.
In the hush Max cried impatiently:
What the dedce!' i
The words broke the spell of amaze
ment upon the actress. In a twinkling
the pitiful counterfeit of a shop-girl
was rent and torn away; It hung only
in shreds and tatters upon an individ-
uality wholly strange to Whitaker a
larger. stronger woman seemed to start
through the mask.
She turned. calling imperativcly into
the wings:
Ring down.
There fell a Pause OF dumb amaze
ment In all the house, during the
space of thirty puise-beats. no one
moved. Then Max raped out an oath
and slipped like quicksilver from the
box
simultaneously the woman's foot
an echo from the boards.
Ring down. she cried. DO you |
hear? Ring down.
With a rush the curtain descended, |
and Immediately ,pandemonium broke |
out on both sides of II. 2
CONTINUED Tomorrow)