A Dead-Head [pp. 428-438]

A DE4AD - HEA4D.
more dingy than ever, and over the right ton. "Aline got me to write some lines
shoulder was still that broad stain, which for her, which she copied and sent to
I now saw was a streak of dry mud and Cecil. You should have seen his ex wheel - grease. Both intent on the per- pression when they fell out of his pocket
formance, we did not talk even between at the'Poodle -dog.' He pretended it
the acts, for orchestral music was a pas- was merely an article for a magazine.
sion with him. "Blessed is he," he This gave me a chance to compel him
would say, "who can perceive the beck- to let me read it aloud. Ha, ha, ha!
oning hand of the divine Musica. He Vane and Pruyn had to hold him in his
shall waking be led through the land of seat. His face was a study. Suddenly
dreams, where though a vagrant he shall he affected to see some one in the hall,
feast like a king! " Before the last act and rushed out, as Vane said, like Don
they played the quadrilles diabolique: Caesar de Bazan when Maritana passes
"L'Enfer." Musing over their weird the door. We all ran to look at him.
story, I toyed idly with Terentieffs ear- After some aimless wandering round,
trumpet, and abstractedly leaned my he went flying down Dupont Street like
head upon it. To my amazement, above the blind bat he is!"
the movement of "La Chasse infernale" I can not recall how the trumpet drop I heard these words distinctly uttered ped from my nerveless grasp, nor when
by the voices of Aline and Pruyn, be- Terentieff left me. I noticed only the
hind the scenes: music, which had reached the climax of
"Promise me a hundred bouquets for its story: "A4 l'instant Ze jalais en my benefit. Make all your friends come. chantd devint la proie desflammes, la
0! I hope you'll be just able to squeeze foudre dclata et" I scarcely heeded
in!" the last act of my play, but suddenly
"I would rather squeeze into your knew the curtain was falling, and Vane
heart." was with me, saying:
"That is impossible. It is full as an "Why did you sit here alone all the
omnibus on a rainy day." evening, with your hand to your head,
"Make somebody get out." first on one side, then on the other, as
"I can't. They've all paid their fare." if you had'a bee in your bonnet?'"
"I am carried away by you, but when "Didn't you see Terentieff?"
I am transported I prefer to charter a "I saw no one. You are overwork conveyance for my exclusive occupa- ed. You need rest. Foreshadowed is
tion." gbod, but Aline must be satisfied with
"'Tis more expensive." her own line of business. See our lead "Beyond the range of possibilities?" ing lady yonder, pleased at Aline's fail "Nothing is impossible except the ure. How pale you look. Come into
leader's wig, or Cecil's mustache." the air."
"I thought he was your favorite slave- I silently followed him. Had I been
or must that one bear Aladdin's lamp?" dreaming? I was bewildered. At the
"'Ay, there's the rub /"' corner of Clay and Montgomery streets
In my agitation I carelessly changed we were joined by Thornton and his
the trumpet to my other ear. Above friends. There was talk of a supper.
the movement of "La Bat au Palais Vane wanted to go with them. I hesi enchantd" I heard the laughter and tated.
talk of Thornton and his friends in a "0," said Thornton, "you had better
distant box. come, especially if you have any more
"Best joke of the season," said Thorn- poetry in your pocket."
1875.]
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