Mountain advocate., 1914-04-24
CHAPTER !.
At the STAGE Door.

At the Stage Door.
Courtlandt sat perfectly straight;
his ample shoulders did not touch the
back OF his chair; and his arms were
folded tightly across his chest The
characteristic of bis attitude was
tenseness. The nostrils we're we'll de-
fined, as in one who sets the upper
jaw hard upon the neither. His brown
eyes-thelr gaze directed toward the
stage whence came the voice OF the
prima donna-epitomized the tension,
expressed the whole as in a word.
Just now the voice was pathetically
subdued, yet reached every part of the
auditorium, kindling the ear with It's
singularly mellowing sweetness. To
Courtlandt II resembled, as no other
sound, the note of muffled Burmese
gong, struck in the dim incensed cav
ern of n temple. A Burmese gong:
briefly and maglcally the stage, the
audience. the amazing CLEAN and scin-
tillation of the Opera, faded. He
heard only the voice and saw only
the purple shadows In the temple at
Rangoon. the oriental sunset splash
ing the golden dome, the wavering
lights of the dripping candles, the dead
flowers. the kneeling devotees. the
. yellow-robed priests, the tatters of
gold-leaf, fresh and old. upon the rows
of placid grinning Buddhas. The
French horns blared and the timpani
crashed. The curtain sank slowly.
The audience rustled, stood up. sought
its wraps, and passed toward the ex-
It's and the grand staircase. 1t was
all over.
Courtlandt took his leave In leisure.
Here and there he saw familiar faces,
but these, after the finding glance, he
studiously avoided. He wanted to be
alone. Outside he lighted a cigar, not
because at that moment he possessed
a craving for nicotine, but because like
all inveterate smokers he believed that
tobacco conduced to clarity of thought.
And mayhap II did. At least, there
presently followed a mental calm that
expelled all this confusion. The goal
waxed and waned as he gazed down
the great avenue with it's precise rows
of lamps. Far away he could discern
the outline OF the brooding Louvre.
There was not the least hope in the
world for him to proceed toward his
goal this night. He realized this clear
ly, now that he was face to face with
actualities. A wild desire seized him
TO make a night of it-Maxim's, the
cabarets; riot and wine. Who cared?
But the desire burnt itself out between
two puffs of his cigar. Ten years
ago. perhaps. this brand of amuse-
ment might have urged him success
fully. But not now; he was done with
tomfool nights. Indeed. his dissipa-
tons had been whimsical rather than
brutal; and retrospection never
aroused a furtive sense of shame.
He was young, but not so young as
an idle glance might conjecture in
passing To such casual reckoning
he appeared to be in the early TWEEN
ties; but scrutiny, more or less infal-
lible, noting a line here or an angle
there, was disposed to add ten years
TO the score. There was in the nose
and chin a certain decisiveness which
In true youth Is rarely developed. This
characteristic arrives only with man
hood, manhood that has been tried
and perhaps buffeted and perchance
a little disillusioned.
What was one to do who had both
money and leisure linked TO an ire
sistible desire TO leave behind one
place or thing In pursuit of another.
unfortunately? 'fhe inherent ambi-
ton was to make money: but recog-
nizing the absurdity of adding to his
income. which even in his eXtrava-
himself over into the hands of grasp
ing railroad and steamship companies,
or their agencies, and became for a
time the slave of guide and dragoman
and carrier. And then the wanderlust,
descended TO him from the blood OF
his rowing Dutch ancestors, which had
lain dormant in the several genera
tons following, sprang into active life
again. He became known in every
port of call. He became known also
in the wildernesses.
Whatever had for the moment ap-
pealed to his fancy. that he had done.
He was alone. absolute master of his
millions, Mammals with marriageable
daughters declared that he was impos-
sible: the manageable daughters
never had a chance to decide one way
or the other; and men called him a
fool He had promoted elephant fights
which had stirred the Indian princes
out OF their melancholy indifference.
and tiger hunts. which had. by their
duration and magniicenee, threatened
70 disrupt the efficiency OF the British
military seryice-whimsicAl excuses.
not understandable By his Intimate 90