Crossville chronicle. [volume] (Crossville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-03-21
CHAPTER xx-Continued.


sat on stone bench with her profile
TO the audience. her back To the right
of the prOSCenium arch: so that she
could not without turning have no
ticed the entrance of Emher and her
husband A shy. light, deathlesSly
youthful figure in pale and flowing
garments that nodded themselves MI
emily TO her sweet and Cirlish body,
In n posture of penSive meditation:
she was nothing less than adorable
Whitaker could not take his eyes from
her. for sheer wonder and delight.
He was only vaguely conscious that
Max, at length satisfied, parked word
to that effect to an unseen electrician
off to the left. and waving his hand
with gesture indelibly associated
with his personality, dragged Il light
cunC-Seated chair to the left of the
proscenium and sat himself down.
"AIl ready?" he demanded in II sharp
and irritable voice.
The woman on the marble step nod
del imperceptibly.
go ahead" snapped the manager.
An actor advanced from the wings,
paused and addressed the seated
woman. His lines were brief. She
lifted her head with startled air,
listening. He ceased to speak. and
her voice of golden velvet filled the
house with the flowing beauty of its
unfOrGettahly sweet mOduatiOns. Be
yOnd the footlghts handful of So
phisticated and skeptical habitues of
the theater forgot for the moment
their ngrained incredulity and thrilled
In sympathy with tho wonderful rap
ture of that voice of eternal Youth.
Whitaker himself for the time forgot
that he was the husband of this WON
an and her lover; she moved before
his vision in the guiSe of some divine
creature, divinely unattainable. a
dream woman divorced utterly from
any semblance of reality.
That opening scene was one perhaps
unique in the history of the stage.
Composed by Max in some mad, poet
ical moment of inspired plagiarism, it
not only owned poignant and en-
thraling beauty of imagery, but It
moved with an almost Grecian certi-
tude, with a significance eXtraOrdina-
rily direct and devoid of circumlocu-
ton. seeming to lay bare the living
tissue of immortal drama.
But with the appearance of other
characters there came change: the
rare atmosphere of the opening began
to disSipate perceptibly. The acnOn
clOuded and grew vague The auditors
began to feel the tluttcrings of uncer-
tainty In the air. Something was fail
Ing to cross the footlights. The sweep
ing and assured gesture of the accom-
plished playwright faltered: clumsy
bit of construction was damningly ex-
posed; faults of characterization null
tiplied depressingly. Sara Law her.
self lost an tndeflnable proportion Of
her rare and provoking charm; the
strangencss of failing to hold her au-
dtencc in an ineluctable grasp seemed
ut once to nettle and distress her.
Max himself seemed suddenly to wake
to the amazing fact that there was |
something enormously and irrelnedi- |
ably wrong; he began with exuSperating |
frequency to halt the action. t. inter
rupt scenes with advice and demands |
for repetition. He found it impossible |
to be still, to keep his seat or control |
his rasping, irritable voice SubOrdi- |
nate characters Oh the stage lost their |
heads and either forgot to act or |
overacted. And then-intoIerable eli |
max of sudden somebody in the |
orchestra chairs laughed in outright
derisiOn In the middle of Il passage
meant to be tenderly emotional.
The voice of Sara Law broke and
fell She stood trembling and I'M
strung Max, without word, turned
on his heel and swung out Of sight into
the wings. Four other actors on the
stage, aside from Sara Law, hesitated
and drew together in doubt and be-
wilderment And then, abruptly, with
no warning whatever, the illusion of
gloom in the auditorium and moonlight
in the postsceniuln was rent away by
the glare of the full complement Of
electric lights installed in the house.
/ A thought later, while still all were
blinking and gasping with surprise.
Max strobe into view just behind the
footlights. Hating. he swept the ar
raw of auditors with an ominous and
truculent stare.
so quickly was this startling change
c,,nsummated that Whitaker Lad no
more than time to realize the reap
pearance of the manager before he
caught his wrathful and venomous
glance fixed to his own bewildered
face. And something in the light that
fiickered wildly behind Max's eyes re-
minded him so strongly of similar
EXPRESSION he had remarked in the