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Show Hor Last Dance. H Sho was not n beauty, perhaps, but H she wnn assuredly a fascinating butter-H butter-H . 11 j of a creature; even her women ' ' friends admitted that. And though' H Boven-and-twenty, and tho mother of H a girl of seven. She still retained so H , much of virginal expression and con- H tour that imagination was loth to nc- H copt the fact of matronhocxl. One felt, iudeed, that if the "12vige Welblich," I changofully changeless, radiantly soul- satisfying, were to be personified, hero I was the model. Gracious and graceful, I . gentle and joyous, she possessed , I talents innumerable, all cultivated to a certain degree to a degreu that had I quite sufllced for her own enjoyment and the edification of a host of admiring I and not too exacting friends, who thought her a delightful prodigy and I spoiled her accordingly. I But, now, cudgel the stunned brain ' as she would, no real capability "of I marketable value," as it had been so I bluntly put to her even in these early I hours of misery Cousin Selina alwayh I put things a bit bluntly, she felt with a I little shiver of annoyance no resource I could she discover to stand her in good stead in. the dreaded day that had come at last. The bolt had fallen tliat morn- ing, and, with nunib, folded hands and dry, terror-iilled eyes, she sat in the darkest corner of her gay little tlraw- iug-room, beneath the gliaatly ohamber whence wore soon to be borne the earth- ly remains of her husband. What was sboto do? How was she to I procure, not tho luxuries without which I v; . slie scarce imagined her. child could I exist, but the bare necessities of life? I Every piece, of-furniture in the house was mortgaged to its full vnlue, and I lier lost jewel had gone to pay the rent. I Thank heaven, they would have this I haven for some time to come. She was I in debt tto butcher and baker, nnd she I had not had a new pair of gloves for months. Shillings had become the basis I of expenditure as guineas had been lutherto. I ' In the morning sympathizing friends I came to support and assist her through the trying ordeal. All passed like a H . dreuin. "Tout passe, tout cassc," alio said, over and over, "but my heart Is H strong." "When, a month later, sho sat with H Couwln Selina in tlus samoxoom, in tho j name chair, listening again to the gusty , rain as it beat against the windows, it H was to her as if no appreciable time had intervened Dreolmily she took up the H thread of her thoughts where sho had H dropped it that, sad night, and the H ' strange conceit came back to lier. H Women, les brilliant but stolid aud H plodding, were ensconced in journals H where she hod disdaiined even to allow H her verses to appear. With voices in nd H way comparable to hers, she saw others H Ruocced; while she, who sang like a' H ' bird but like a hiTd, too, only when in- HJ upired could maka no impression. H And so, doweret as she vu, she was H poorer ami more helpless than the HI ! humblest, womau who could consclen- N ' tiously knit a pair of stockings or em- M broider a teacloth. DH The pretty face- seemed pinched and BR weary; two deep lines began to inclose Rg ' the drooping mouth. "I smile en parenthese," she. said, to Cousin Selina. H as sho turned from the, mirror, where W he was trying to change the expres- H sion of those quivering lips, that' even at H . tlie moment curved upwards, a Cupid's H bow, at the quaint conceit, j Wore surely than ever she knew she H could ask no favors, but must put her H own shoulder to the wheel. Hut. what H ( ;' to do when all else failed? Todancoon H ' tho stage! Why not? She could dance; S all her life she had loved to dunce. In H her greatest joyshe had ever found f ull- est expression in dancing to her own re- flections before the long mirror In her Iwudolr. A huudred times her darling had leen lulled to sleep, eased of her D pain by tho dancing of her "pretty I Mumsle." Once, with herhii8tmiRl, she I luvl hwu a famous aotresa a woman M chastq an herself danoo ho gracefully, H yet with nn' nhandonu so perfect as to H i ' I I 4 captivate an audience accustomed to exhibitions ex-hibitions from which she hod turned in loathing to his annoyance, since his taste grew yearly less refined. Even then, "Tho pity of it," she had sighed. And how much even then, was implied that she Bhould say, turning to him: "That I could do, I am certain." "May you never need," he had answered, an-swered, fervently. For he loved her and was proud of her, though his paths in life were devious, though he would not follow her. Itall came back to her vividly vivid-ly tho gay scene, the eager faces, the murmur of delight, the applause that rose again nnd again, and could not be stayed. Her heart beat fast; yes, she would dance. It might cost her tho few friends she still possessed, but as long as she helped herself she could maintain her pride. Next day began a tiresome round of Interviews with impatient, incredulous or Impertinent managers, with a heart growing daily heavier and a brain sharpened almost to vlclousnes3. At lost an impressarlo, touched by her grace and the expression of brave despair des-pair ill her hungry eyes, granted her a trial, fixing an hour at the theater on the following day in the early forenoon. Amid a concourse of .women, some sympathetic, sym-pathetic, some brazenly Inquisitive, all so different from herself that she scarce felt they were her sisters, she made her ilrst essay. IIow unreal it seemed; a dream, she kept telling herself, adrcnin from which she would waken in a moment. Sho kept her glance straight before her, trying to shut out the crudity of her surroundings. The "sets" all awry, the glimpses of busy carpenters and scene-shifters, the flashily-dressed men1 and' women -waiting for rehearsal and familinrizlng'in a way that gave her a mental nausea. A row of raw girls in soiled dancing shoes and fleshings, their upper halves clothed in ordinary bodices', went awkwardly through their matutinal drill. The odor of dust and oil and paint begnn to overpower her. and sho was -on tho verge of losing her self-possession when the kind voice of the manager, close beside her, said: "Your turn, madamt will you tell me what music you desire?" The orchestra, or-chestra, composed of one violin on tho stage, begnn the swinging nccompani-ment nccompani-ment of La Pnlo'ma, and at the end, and while the blood beat and surged in deafening throbs in her heavy head, again she heard the voice of tho manager, man-ager, seemingly a great distance off: "Accept my compliments, madame, 1 shall be glad to offer you a salary xf ten pounds a week. I am suro you will . have a success." "Un sueces fou," he said, turning to the orchestra, who gracefully waved his fiddle, bowed low and replied: "Sansdoute." Poor womau, wom-au, she looked Into their eyes to see if they were mocking her; then, convinced con-vinced of their good faith, 6hc mustered all her strength, nnxl with tho strange surging still in her ears, smiled, said "I thank you," turned quickly and left the theater. IIow she got homo wns always a mystery to her. Martha heard a faint pull at the bell, hastened to the door and found her mistress pale, as death, but with lier eyes widO' open and a sot smile on her lips. She'- ' put her to bed, held her quivering body till by degrees the tortured soul began to still itself and the overwrought brain found relief in such healing tears as had not come before in all those strained days of trial. And now there , wns practicing and preparation of costumes, cos-tumes, then tho first appearance and the many succeeding, all justifying the acumen of her friend the impressarlo. Gradually all pressing need, tho . indebtedness, in-debtedness, the grinding care disappeared, disap-peared, and she could have been comparatively com-paratively happy. All day, save for tho morning hour of rehearsal, she kept Mnilzie beside her. It was Malzie who made a dally holocaust holo-caust of unopened blllcta-doux and' adorned her nursery with the flowers-that flowers-that iavariably accompanied them. (' was Maizle who firstenjoyed, almost inr spired, tho dances she invented, and who first praised her "Sweet Mumsle" in her artistic- costumes. Continued next week. t |