The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1913-04-25


Mamma Valerius for giving him such
news as that with such Supplying
calmness. He tried to sound Ter, but
the old lady obviously knew nothing.
Christine returned on the following
day. She returned in triumph. She
renewed her extraordinary success OF
the gala performance. Since the ad-
venture of the toad" Carlotta had
not been able to appear on the stage.
The terror of fresh ''co-ack" filled
her heart and deprived her of all her
power of singing; and the theater
that had witnessed her Incompetent
sible disgrace had become odious to
her. She contrived to cancel her con-
tract. Daae was offered the vacant
place for the time. She received thun-
ders Of applause in the Juive.
The Viscount, who, of course, was
present, was the only one to suffer
on hearing the thousand echoes of
this fresh triumph; for Christine still
wore her plain gold ring A distant
voice whispered In the young mans
ear:
She is wearing the ring again to-
night; and you did not give it to her.
She gave her soul again tonight and
did not give 1t to you. If she
will not tell you what she has been
doing the past two days . you
must go and ask Erik"
He ran behind the scenes and
placed himself in her way. She saw
him for her eyes were looking for him.
She said:
Quick! Quick. Comet"
And she dragged him to her dress
ing-room.
Raoul at once threw himself on his
knees before her. He swore to her
that he would go and he entreated
her never again to withhold a single
hour Of the ideal happiness which she
had promised him. She let her tears
flow. They kissed like a despairing
brother and sister who have been
smitten with a common loss and who
meet to mourn dead parent.
Suddenly, she snatched herself from
the young mans soft and timid en-
brace, seemed to listen to something,
and, with quick gesture, pointed to
the door When he was on the
threshold, she said, in so low a voice
that the viscount guessed rather than
heard her words:
Tomorrow, my dear betrothed.
And be happy, Raoul; | sang for you
tonight"
He returned the next day. But
those two days of absence had broken
the charm of their delightful make
believe. They looked at each other,
in the dressing-room, with their sad
eyes, without exchanging a word.
Raoul had to restrain himself not to
cry out:
Il am jealous, | am jealoust |
am jealous!"
But she heard him all the same
Then she said:
Come for a walk, dear. The air
will do you good
Raoul thought that she would pro-
pose a stroll in the country, far from
that building which he detested as
prison whose jailer he could feel
walking within the walls the
jailer Erik. But she took him
to the stage and made him sit on the
wooden curb Of well, in the doubt
full peace and GOODNESS of first scene
set for the evenings performance.
On another day, she wandered with
him, hand in hand, along the desert
ed paths of a garden whose creepers
had been cut out by a decorators
skiIlful hands. 1t was as though the
real sky, the real flowers, the real
earth were forbidden her for all time
and she condemned to breathe no
other air than that of the theater.
An occasional fireman passed, watch
ing over their melancholy idyll from
afar. And she would drag him up
above the clouds, in the magnificent
disorder of the grid, where she loved
to make him giddy by running in
front of him along the frail bridges,
among the thousands of ropes fast
ened to the pulleys, the windasses,
the rollers, in the midst of a regular
forest of yards and masts If he
hesitated, she said, with an adorable
pout of her lips:
You, a sailor,"
And then they returned to terra
tirma, that is to say, to some passage
that led them to the little girls dane
ing-school, where brats between six
and ten were practtcing their steps. In