Argosy, Vol. 118, No. 4 — page 154: what you’re looking at

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

624 to make sure that the entire house should be pitch dark, and it was. Ethel May was a bit late in reporting when called, and had scarcely reached her proper position on the stage when the house went dark and the curtain went up. : Business with the electric flashlight— Miss Raymond. ‘“ Feel it?” whispered Aleck, “‘ It’s get- ting ’em!””. And it was, too. There wasn’t a sound. The customers were spellbound. The clock began striking. One—two—three. At the first stroke a startled movement passed over the audience. Everybody jumped. They were that worked up. It was going big! Ten—eleven—twelve/ On the stroke the white circle of light from the electric torch brought the ghastly face of Aloysius Mc- Fadden, the celebrated. delineator of de- ceased persons, into sudden, startling relief against the surrounding darkness. There was a concerted gasp from the customers. (There was also a gasp on the stage, and it sounded to me as if it emanated from Ethel May Darling. Then came a scream. “And of its kind it was perfect; but it seemed to me that, as screams go, it was the wrong kind, At any rate, I’ll say this:. to my right and left ears, both of which are fairly cultivated, that scream didn’t sound a bit like a scream of horror. No, it sounded more like the battle-cry of an Amazon going into action—and then came a series of noises which indicated as plainly as need be to me that Ethel May Darling was wiping up the floor of our especially constructed library set with the form of Aloysius McFadden. And whether she was doing any serious damage or not to Aloy- sius McFadden, I knew not and cared the same; but from the sounds it was a cinch that she was seriously injuring a large num- ber of valuable theatrical properties for which Aleck and I had spent our good money. You could hear Aloysius bump up against one property after another, and none of them seemed able to withstand him. He crashed right through regardless. Meantime, Ethel. May Darling gave piercing tongue to a series of remarks the gist of which was that Aloysius McFadden was several sorts of very low wretches, and THE ARGOSY, maybe he’d thought that he could get away with it, but, if so, Aloysius had another guess coming to him, because now Ethel May had got him, and got him good——and she was going to hang on to him. Aleck and I and the audience also grasped the fact that at some time in the past Aloysius McFadden had allowed himself to be bound in matrimony to Ethel May Darling, and had then left her hurriedly, taking with him a considerable sum, of money rightfully be- longing to Ethel May, and, on the whole, Ethel May was considerably cut up about it. But Providence—personally I think it was George Higgins—had now delivered Aloysius into Ethel May’s hands, and take it straight from Ethel, she was going to see to it personally that Aloysius paid the pen- alty! And so forth. Of course it all happened in less time than it takes to tell it; but it happened, and before Aleck could collect himself to- gether and yell for the curtain, And when he did demand the curtain in a loud voice filled with anger and other things, instead of turning on the curtain some simple-mind- ed stage mechanic turned on the lights— showing a large, heaving woman standing amidst the wreck of our library set, and a rear view of Aloysius McFadden going rap- idly away from there. And I think Aloy- sius continued to travel at a very fair rate of speed for some weeks. Jt was the only common-sense thing to do. Then came the curtain; and as they say in vaudeville, “A Scream at Midnight ” opened and closed in one—and a fraction. Aleck made a little speech regretting many things, among others that it was impossible to continue the performance on account of the absence of Mr, Aloysius McFadden, one of our principal actors, who had been suddenly called away on business of much moment; and as the audience passed more or less quietly out, only a few paused at the box-office. No doubt they were a bit confused in their minds as to just what had happened; but, whatever it was, it was enough, They were satisfied. A couple of hours after the close of the opening of Mr. Archibald Jones’s melo- drama, Aleck and I were talking it over at the hotel. We'd already said most of the EO JOO S (CCC)