Marion Marlowe in Cleveland, or, The Mystery of the Red Rose — page 26: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

band, holding her child in her arms, in a nmiost pathetic manner. pit was a balcony scene, depicting twilight first, then both the moon and the Aurora B orealis suddenly lit the evening skies, their rays spreading and deepening in intensity, k ur til the whole sky was luminous. “Marion moved a low rocker to the center a the balcony ; then stepped to the edge, and ‘stood gazing at the sky, with the frst glim- mer of the moonlight falling softly about her. hed effect was charming, and the audience Segal her peerless beauty, the young girl. loc ed almost angelic, and her white, filmy : yarments only enhanced the illusion. ~ Suddenly she turned half around and be- gan humming a low tune; then, as her eye wandered to her child, she burst out into a strain of melody that held her hearers spell- bound. It was Marion’s first song since she left the opera company, and no one had even guessed that she was such a marvelous sing- er. As the notes rgppled from her white th roat, every opera- glass was turned upon het , and even the employees behind the scenes left their posts and crowded in the wings to listen. _ When the song finally ended, there was a murmur of applause, but another display of calcium made them stare in wonder. _ Marion walked slowly toward the rock- img-chair, intending to seat herself; but, as she stood with one hand on the low chair, wazing out over the audience, she suddenly shivered with fear in every fibre of her be- ing The colored lights were playing hide-and- seek in the sky above her head, and little Ruby was still sitting on the balcony floor, Waiting for her cue, but Marion stood speechless, staring straight before her. , Suddenly Archie Ray leaned forward and tollowed the glance of her eyes. 4 man, hollow-eyed and haggard, was seated in the front row of the orchestra. He Bras: neatly dressed, and not especially con- spicuous, but he was staring wildly at Marion, and there was a red rose in his 2utton-hole !’ “ _ MY QUEEN. ZS As the actress saw Mr. Ray leave the box with his sister, she came back to her senses. She must go on with the scene, no matter what it might cost her. There was no smile on her face as she looked at this fellow, for Marion had recognized him instantly as the one she had seen on the street corner, and she knew instinctively that he was the threat- ener. She tried to seat herself naturally, but every movement was forced. | ‘As she turned to speak to little Ruby, her tongue almost refused to obey her. At last, with a mighty effort, she found her voice. It was merely to say to fhe child: “Come to mamma, darling!” Little Ruby sprang to her feet, holding the parcel carelessly. The next instant it slipped from her grasp. At that moment Marion leaped from her chair with a shriek that echoed through the building. The parcel would have fallen from the balcony to the stage if Marion had not caught it in the nick of time. Simultane- ously with the shriek, however, there was a dull report from .somewhere behind the scenes. Crash after crash followed, and the stage and all about it were enveloped in dark- ness. The audience arose as one man, all shriek- ing and screaming, and for a moment it seemed that a panic was inevitable. , “The rioters! They have blown up the theatre !” “Miss Marlowe has been killed!” yelled some one in the crowd, frantically. “Be quiet, every one! There’s no dan- ger!’ roared Mr. Temple’s voice from the blackness of the stage. “Sit still and avoid a panic! We’ll light up in a second!” bawled Bert Jackson, from one of the boxes. The crowd hesitated a moment, and the ushers made use of the time to crowd them back into their seats, while the detectives and extra policemen who were in the house made heroic efforts to quiet the audience. No one could tell just what had happened, but all knew that it was an explosion of some kind. In that first fearful second they had caught a glimpse of the scenery_as CONTI HOOREKGo