, 1920-01-22

great success, Watkins, the manager,
give it as his opinion that they could
now afford to risk a little on the clas-
sizes, n as Michael O'Duffy also
thought that the time was come to
work for glory and not for filthy lucre,
"RomeO and Juliet was decided upon.
At the first performance, Archie
sat, red and uncomfortable, in the first
ROW and held his own hands, while
O'Duffy, in velvet trunks, his red hair
covered with long black curls, sat on a
stone parapet with his arm about
Leona.
Leona, had carefully explained to
Archie, with copious illustrations, the
difference between real and stage
kisses; blu now, as she leaned against
the beautiful O'Duffy, Archie distrust-
ed her, and he stretched his neck I'M
mercifully to see if they were really
holding hands.
Mr.. Watkins, having decided to do
the classics, was determined to give
Shakespeare a fair chance, and the
Suggesting for the balcony scene
was, in the words of Michael O'Duffy,
a "~she-derve."
1t was the lake that gave Archie his
inspiration, for he knew that the life
like undulationS on its surface were
made by the regular movements of the
"supes," who knelt in rows beneath its
green-baiZe waters. He would be n
wave at the very next performance,
and discover for himself if Leona were
true or If the kisses that Juliet be-
slowed on Romeo were as real as they
looked.
The following night the curtain rose
at Morgan's on the same respondent
scene, but Archie vas not in his usual
place. Leona, however, did not seem
to feel his absence, as, leaning over
the balcony, she stretched her arms to
the electric moon, n inquired with
deep feeling:
Romeo, Romeo; wherefore art thou,
Romeo?"
Archie, watching her from the bot
tom of the lake, thought that she had
never looked so beautiful.
Then ODuffy appeared. and, gazing
on him with a soulful expression.
June HhdhiASu tChuCiiy
Are thou not Romeo and a Monta-
gue?"
To which Romeo replied, with much
ardor:
Neither. fair maid, If either you
dislike"
Adding %fippantly. in an undertone :
me names o'Duffy, but you can call
me Mike"
Juliet was not at all disturbed by
this ~irrelevancy; and when O'Duffy.
who had declared against Iong-dls-
lance ~love-making, climbed up on the
balcony N took her in his arms, the
dialogue progressed finely, in spite of
Romeo's slightly Irish accent,
MY bounty is as %boundless as the
sea. My love as Deep"
She spoke with an intensity which
communicated itself to the inflamma-
BILE Irishman; and oDuffy. springing
forward, caught her in his arms and
imprinted a real, a resounding. an un-
mistakable kiss on her carmine lips.
Instantly there was a roar from the
depths of the lake.
Look at Venus, rising from the
sea-" cried a voice in the gallery.
Archie needed 1t not.
"T1l teach you," he cried, shaking
with rage; I'll teach you to kiss my
girl"
O'Duffy recognized his rival.
"Come on and teach me !" he yelled
derisively, throwing off his cloak.
In an instant the two were locked
In tho foot aphroca If daodly hotrad
while Leona, screaming wildly, leaned
yer the parapet.
go it, Venusi' shrieked the de
lighted audience.
punch him, Romeo - cried the bal
cony.
Mr.. Watkins dashed out upon the
stage.
Come down !" he shouted.
The balcony was high, the ladder
weak. n Mr.. Watkins was no feath-
erweight. He ragged in impotence.
Come down !" he shrieked, shaking
both fists at the combatants. This
time O'Duffy answered:
"Come down. did o say? He's
coming"
With that he seized Archie by the
waist and flung him over the parapet
dow into the lake, where the "supes,"
held by the baleful eye of the foreman,
knelt in stupefied silence.
With mufled cries. the waves rose
up INT scattered in all directions, and
Mr.. Watkins, from the bank of the
lake, made a dive for Archie, and
O'Duffy stretched out his arms for
Leona.
She, however, preserved her pres
ence of mind and, realizing that her
false hair was falling off, saved the
situation by ordering down the cur
tain.
The next day the aunts, the sisters,