Sealed Lips — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

SEALED LIPS, 13 CHAPTER II. DESCRIPTIVE. “Constantin XII.” marked Antoine Godefroid’s debut upon the lyric stage, but the composer, al- though more than forty years old, did not make his debut as far as celebrity and fortune were con- cerned. His only operetta, “Des Filets de Vulcain,” this masterpiece of a style now passed by, for fifteen years the California for musicians, had enriched him by covering the walls of all the principal cities of Europe with his name. As practical in business matters as ambitious in his profession, Godefroid, while putting aside his profits in a sure place, was soon tired of this title of “author of ‘Des Filets de Vulcain,’” which he saw himself threatened with for the rest of his life. He was too wise not to understand that in time the operetta would suc- cumb to two fatal disorders—abuse and mediocrity. He felt that he was born for something better. He wrote “Constantin,” and without any trouble or waiting the doors of the Opera opened to receive his work. Then he felt that he had reached the height of his ambition. To tell the truth, it was not ROE ETD S Opinion. An old master, whose teaching he followed more Gomicboo (e(@) S