OCR Text |
Show - 1 nj What Was the Nightmare Vision S8 II) ir That Made the Beautiful Actress Q H L V) f h o Tsrl 1 -P Mile. Cecile Sorel, the accom- 1 I '''ll BO Ipearing and entered the luxurious limousine limou-sine that stood waiting for her. The evening had marked another triumph tri-umph for the beautiful actress, a typical typi-cal Sorel triumph. In her ears etill echoed tho npplause her genius had inspired in-spired and in her richly jewelled hands she carried a few of the choicest of the costly blossoms that had been handed up to her over the footlights. "Till to-morrow!" Sorel gayly cried to some of her fellow players who stood waiting to bid her good night. And nobody no-body dreamed, not even Sorel herself, that the to-morrow of which she spoke so" confidently would find another actress playing the role that the stage had seen the last of its beloved idol. Yet so it wa6, as the next few hours were to 6how, that fate had ordained with moBt puzzling strangeness Mile. Sorel, or "Celimene," as she is popularly known in Pans, was unusually tired, for the role she had played that night was a most exacting one. As usual, she had 6trained mental and physical phys-ical powers to the utmost in order to create a living, breathing image in the minds of her audience. And so, instead of accepting an invitation invi-tation to sup and dance with some of her innumerable admirers in a gay restaurant, restau-rant, she ordered her liveried chauffeur to drive her straight to the mansion where she lived, amid all the best that a handsome income can supply. Arrived at her home, she went straight to the room, where sho passed her nights In luxury fine enough for any prin-cesB. prin-cesB. Her maid helped her to undress and to dlsposo the fine linens and silken coverlets over her when she finally lay down on her canopied bed. Then the maid turned out the pink-shaded electric elec-tric bulbs, said a respectful good night and gently closed the door behind her. But the plumber for which Sorel had been no eager and which seemed to be overwhelming her as tho maid removed her clothing and enveloped her in a lacy robe de nuit refused to come. A soft-toned soft-toned clock in another room chimed one, and two, and still Sorel remained annoy-ingly annoy-ingly wide awake. She arose and drew the curtains, but the shutting out of tho moonlight that flooded the room only made her the more wakeful. At laBt she took from the tablo at her bedside a bottle and poured out a sleeping draught which her physician had prescribed for U6e only in case of direst necessity. The effect of the dose was almost in-atantaneous. in-atantaneous. Hardly had it disappeared down her throat before she began to relax and a ponderous weight seemed to fall upon her eyelids. But what the sedative drug brought Sorel waa no restful, dreamless sleep. She moaned and cried out and tossed from one side of the bed to the other. Suddenly a most terrifying vision invaded in-vaded her dream. With a piercing scream on her lips she sat up in bed, trembling in every muscle and thrusting out her arms to protect herself from some hideous nightmare creature. Over and over again she managed to compose herself and return to sleep, but each time tho same ugly vision appeared more realistically than before to rouse her into a panic of fright. Just what this vision was that made euch a painful impression on the ac- carried to her subconsciousness, Sorel has thus far refused to reveal. Not even her closest friends have been able to induce her to describe this nightmare vision and to give the details of the dream in which it figured. But after this same dream had been repeated four times, each time filling Sorel with more terror than the last, she becamo convinced that it was a warning for her to retire from the stag e to turn her back on the fame and fortune for-tune her genius was bringing and pass the rest of her days in the obscurity of private pri-vate life, far away from the Paris that adored her. This, Bhc felt, must be done at once, without the slightest delay, with none of the long, series of farewell appearances appear-ances with which actresses are so fond of preceding preced-ing their retirement. retire-ment. With a tremulous tremu-lous hand she pressed the light button, then stepped out of bed and crossed the room to her writing desk. For a ute or two her pen : nervously across a jV'-v . . " , , ; H 19 'A;';-'' I . i j I min- i ' ' ' - . ", x ' I . '-' raced 1 ' ... . sheet m&. ; of her proudly mono-grammed mono-grammed stationery, and in that time the period was written to one of the greatest modern stage careers. Rousing her maid from bed, she ordered or-dered the girl to see that the note she had dashed off was delivered immediately immediate-ly to her manager. The reading of it made him the most amazed man in Paris. He could not believe that Sorel, the great "Celimene," really intended quitting the stage right in the midst of the most successful engagement she had ever played, He thought her note must be a temperamental caprice or a joke or perhaps a shrewd move to frighten him into giving her a more profitable contract. con-tract. Hut when, without waiting for his breakfast, he hurried to Sorel's home, he soon saw it was all true, just as she had written. All his earnest pleading and that of friends of his and hers, -w - " whom he called to his aid, could not shake her from what she declared to be an irrevocable decision to retire at once. It waa because of her terrifying dream that she was doing this, she said, but she steadfastly refused to explain its nature or why she should regard it as a command that must be obeyed, Paris was staggered with surprise when it received the unexpected news that it had seen for the last time its adored Sorel, and the nature of the dream which inspired her sudden action ac-tion has become the subject of the wild est speculations. Many declare that the dream is probably a fabrication on the actress's part to conceal her real reasons rea-sons for abandoning her career, but none of the reasons that have been suggested to replace her alleged nightmare vision J X thrusting out' herself from this hideouYghtaw Over and oyer again she managed to -WfrV r ?Se Sersc,f turn to deep, b3 V t,m,e hVT "fly vision appeared 1 IP y! realistically than before to rouse her i Monsieur Bib's iste? It was not J caricature of Mile least a flattering j Sorel which she and it ?ae the U pronounced an a.-cntuaiion of infamous insult Sord's anstociil . to her "divine and chin. Paris U ' ! : beauty" about it, but 3 K Mile. Sorel bt D , visited the exhH t p j oneday- J ijr . ; Her vaml' P" raged. She sS V j 'he picture and wil old vanity case ! y h r'a ; AW I ".' i h-r and age. I in- afTnir i f-came the talk 3 i H town and the frantic cries Mile. tored u she attacked the picture! "v. ' i widely quoted : ' V ' fira V j 7 "Tal , fh.ii, an.) :lin'. vile cana 1" :-BjWB.-: . ". f ' "" one hn fun of my j Deauty. Ah, to insult my hautyl ema at all adequate. ade-quate. Some think Mile Sorel may have thought she noted a lessening of the public interest in her and deemed it wise to seek retirement re-tirement before it was forced upon her. Mention is made of possible financial difficulties, difficul-ties, but they would seem ground for a step contrary to that she took, lers point out that - " vuierb jiuim uul uiul the actress was aping. But much of a career might still lie before be-fore her, for she was only fourteen when she first went on the btage, and she has before her the example of the perennial Sarah Bernhardt. Until the night of the dreadful dream she claims to have had Cecile Sorel had given no indication of retiring. She had only just returned from London, where she had taken a leading part in the memorial performances of the plays 6f the great French dramatist, Moliere. And she had charmed Paris that Paris which always was ready to listen to her with a delightful anecdote of Queen .Mury. "Her majesty came to the second matinee mat-inee of 'Le Misanthrope' with the King and Princess Mary," Mile. Sorel related re-lated "She was wearing a simple gray dress and she looked with an apprecia-tivi apprecia-tivi eye at thte splendid Louis XIV pan- - irv ,. u - nier robe and the head dress of plumes I wore. " 'That is what I call a truly royal drcs,' she said. 'Nowadays sovereigns dress just like every one else, and it is you, madam, who are a queen.' ' W nether it was a dream or some other Ceasoh that impelled her. she has done exactly what she said she would do . broken off all links with her past life and fled into retirement in Provence. Her life hits always seemed blessed by the goddess of good fortune. When she was only fourteen she accompanied a stage-struck friend who was Beeking an engagement to the office of a theatrical manager. The latter ignored the real aspirant and fixed his attention on Sorel. Her figure, her carriage, her voice and her finely cut features alike impressed U.w. -J I ..... . I. U 1 .L. mm, aiui ll n.ia Mie WUU WHS fcjivt-ll mo chance on the stage. She was not long in serving her apprenticeship ap-prenticeship in the smaller theaters and soon she won a place in the coveted Comedie Francalse. After seeing her as "Celimene," a critic exclaimed, "Magnificent "Mag-nificent and desirable, queen of women, triumphant and cruel, mistress of the world, incarnnte In Cecile Sorel, princess of Paris!" Her name has never been linked with any serious scandals. It is true that she was mentioned in connection with the unsavory disclosures following the death of Felix Faure. Later, however, it developed de-veloped that the woman in the case was not Mile. Sorel, but Mme. Steinhiel. Aside from her continued success on the stage, the greatest prominence she lately received was in connection with a grotesque cartoon of her made by Monsieur Mon-sieur Bib, a well known young artist, and displayed in the Salon des Humor- is infamous." ft'-r a good deal of talk aodfl law suits, the matter dropped 9h public nnfire "f rource, this A hardlv have had anything: to iom Sorel's retirement but PaiisSBlB sure the memory of the incidents example of the fiery spirit which- her such a great actress It is a singularly .-urprising f4fl a dream also drove the beautrfuH ! avalln re, another darling of thB', stage, into retirement at f.heverjM : of her rareer. Such was tMV' of the mysterious vision that brK sleep of Lavalliero that for TH secluded herself in th? shadaH, convent. And w hlle she recendy lj' turned to Paris, it is not to resBn old life, but to spend her dayi . meditation in the Church of Heart and distribute alms aWHB-beggars aWHB-beggars that haunt its portal. Were the dreams that banish," two actresses the result of untfj : mances, suh as drove EleanoW , the tragedienne, and Ida RubeniW dancer, from the world? Butj( victims of infatuation for W. soldier-poet Cabriele d'AnnuaSW returned to the stage. Eve however, shows no sign of rm j the life she renounced, and L"M. wm? equnlh determined dftva in the little village in Surprised Paris will never FU tied until i- knows just wha ; "Mk nat ure of -he dream that M fl Sorel to follow in the WL. I.avall.e.e D.d it '9 forgotten specter ol her slernlv conddemned her o In, of dan,., that lay ah she persisted in her career. |