Beadle's Dime Library No. 465: The Actor Detective — page 4: what you’re looking at

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

“ The Actor Detective. avenues by means of which I could hope to gain an honest living seemed closed against me ex- cept this one, ‘** T attempted to sew but I was not sufficiently strong to endure the hardships of such a life,” the girl said in her simple, innocent way. ‘*‘ And j - as I was about despairing I met Madame ikella. ‘*She had a room in the same house where I resided and in the kindness of her heart took pity upon me. ‘* By her advice I resolved to adopt a stage life, for she assured me [ had natural gifts which would be certain to insure success.” ‘*The madame is a good judge,” the young man remarked. ‘‘She is an old actress herself and knows pretty well what 5 er en rye. are essential to a public career. early all of her pupils whom she believes in make a success, but as she has often told me, the people who are least qualified to succeed on the stage are the ones who are willing to pay the highest. ‘*Of course, it is her business to teach the art of acting, but as she is honest enough to own to those who like myself are in the ring and un- derstand the ropes, acting is something that cannot be really taught. Itcan only come from experience, being in that respect just hke swim- ming and skating. ‘* All the teaching in the world will not make a man a swimmer or learn him how to stand upon his skates; actual practice alone will an- swer. ‘* There are plenty of idiots, though, ready to pay for the privilege of learning how to act, and asthe madame must make a living some- how, and as she is getting too old to act, she can hardly be blamed for taking the money so free- ly tendered her.” ‘* She was very kind to me indeed, for I was sadly disheartened and had begun to despair when I chanced to make her acquaintance,” the girl remarked. , ‘* My money was nearly exhausted, and I did not know what I should do, when Madame Mikella appeared to me like a guardian angel. **She declared I had talent and volunteered to instruct me. Nay, more, she procured me sew- ing from the costumer of one of the Broadwa theaters, sol was able to support myself while studying. ‘Then, after I had become sufficiently ad- vanced, she managed to arrange for me to ap- pear at some amateur entertainments so that I would become accustomed to appearing in pub- lic, and then she che me this engagement, but I fear all her kindness would not have been of any avail if it had not been for your timely encouragement to-night.” “*Oh, don’t mention it!” the actor exclaimed, lightly. ‘‘I only did what any man ought to have done, I remember what a hard time I had when [ began. I hadn’t any one to advise me, and at first it was a terrible up-hill road.” ‘* All my life has been that way ever since I can remember,” the girl said, with mournful cadence. ‘Left an orphan, I was forced to fight life’s battle alone and unaided. It was a terribly un- equal struggle, and just as I felt I should sink down exhausted my steps were happily directed into this new life. ‘** Then, too, there is a mystery connected with my family. My mother was always in dread of a bitter foe, who, she declared, would surely do her harm.” The young man listened in wonder to this strange tale. ** What was he like?” he asked. ‘*T can hardly answer that question, for my mother was strangely reserved, but as faras I can make out, he was a tall, dark young man, with a smooth, boyish-looking face, seemingly a aatee “This is the strangest affair that ever came to my knowledge,” Keene declared. Just at this moment they were summoned to the stage, and the conversation came to an end, In the scene which ensued Keene had occa- sion to come quite close to the footlights, and as he did so he happened to glance into the front of the house. His attention was directed to the private boxes on the left of the house, mainly because he happened to see the manager in one of the boxes, the one nearest to the stage; but judge of his astonishment when in the neighboring box he beheld a tall, smoothly-shaven youn man with a foreign look, the very counterpa of the one bed by the girl. §So as nitied Was the young actor by this un- expected discovery that for a mcment he forgot where he was and hesitated in taking up his cue yhen it was given him. Of course it might only be a chance resem- blance, but for all that Keene had taken it into his head that the man in the box was the very identical one whom the girl had described. ‘The actor didn’t like the fellow’s looks and mentally set him down for a bad egg, and if he have seen the movements of the man in the interval between the first and second acts he would have been satisfied his suspicion was cor- rect. During the whole of the first act the stran had remained in the back of the box, seclu i ifr : = Renner ee re LE, Se . <<< himself so he could not be seen either by the | | rejoined. audience or by the people upon the stage, but when the act-dro descended and Freehigh rose | ‘*Oh, no, not a stranger now, you know,” he ‘* We have been formally introduced,. have faced the footlights together, and for my to excuse himself, as he was going upon the | part I feel as if you were an old friend; friend- stage, his utterance of the judge’s name came to the ears of the unknown. Immediately he became curious. Only a thin wooden partition separated the two apartments. Drawing a gimlet from his pocket, he cau- tiously made a hole in the partition, and by ap- plying either eye or ear he could both see and ear all that transpired in the other apartment, And so vot a word of the judge’s story es- caped him. A strange look came over his face as he set- tled back in his place as the curtain rose again on the play. ‘So it cannot be avoided,” he murmured, as | he listlessly watched the movements of the ac- tors upon the stage, ‘‘ The deed must be done— as water as at any other time.”’ And then from his hip-pocket he drew a re- volver, a large one, navy size, and cocking it, | leaned forward, his gaze intently fixed upon | Miss Estelle, who at this moment came upon the | stage, t CHAPTER V. AN UNEXPECTED EVENT. THERE was murder in the man’s face; no one could have doubted that if favored with a good view of his countenance. And it was just at this point that the atten- tion of the young actor was directed to the man. Keene did not catch sight of the revolver, though, for the stranger masked the weapon with his knee so that it could not be seen, ‘““By Jove!” the actor muttered to himself, “that fellow looks ugly. He looks as if he meant mischief. It wouldn't be a bad idea to call the girl’s attention to him.” Acting on this impulse on the first occasion when the business of the stage did not require their immediate attention, Keene told the lady of the discovery which he had made. ‘* Have you ome accustomed to the thea- ter so as to be able distinguish the people in the front of the house?” he asked. “Oh, yes, Tam guite far-sighted, and I am all over my nervousness,” she replied, ‘‘ Have you noticed a gentleman in the second box on the left hand—Manager Freehigh and some of his friends are in the first box—the one nearest to the stage?” ‘“‘'Yes, I noticed that there was a there, but he sat so far back in the box that 1 was not able to distinguish him.” ‘‘He has moved to the front now, although from the peculiar way in which he is skulking behind the curtains, it looks as if he was not de- sirous of being seen, I got a pretty good view of him a moment ago, though, and the thought at once occurred to me that he exactly resem- bles the man whom you described to me as hav- Ry, tree you annoyance,” cloud passed over the face of the young actress, and it was plain she was troubled by the apprehension that the man in the box and the unknown who seemingly bore her family no good-will were one and the same. ‘*T am not sure [ should be able to recognize him,” she remarked. ‘“‘ For all I have to guide me is my mother’s vague description.” ** That isn’t much,” the actor responded. ** Take a look at him, but do not allow him to entleman wd suspect that you are trying to identify im. ‘*Glance around the house carelessly, as though you had no particular object in so do- ing.” Khe girl obeyed the instructions, and as the oung man in the box at that moment had al- owed his attention to be occupied by the actors in the foreground, she was able to get a good view of his face without his suspecting it. ‘He fully answers the description,” she said, ‘* and I feel equally sure that his presence here bodes no good to me.” The troubled look upon the face of the girl appealed strongly to the sympathies of Keene. ““T should not allow myself to worry about that,” he remarked, ‘‘ But his appearance, my mother said, has al- ways seemed to be the herald of some mischief,” she said. ‘* It cannot be the result of accident only, but I fear of dread design.” “Tf you have no objection I will look into the matter, and try to ascertain something about this mysterious personage,” the yo actor said, in the easy, careless way, which so reassuring to the timid heart. ‘I think there is the making of a fine detective officer in me, and this will be a good opportunity to try my powers,” he continued, in a jesting sort of way. oY This fellow looks brigandish enough to bea first class gs 0 a I really think I should enjoy getting upon his trail,as a Western man would say.” ** And would you take such trouble on my be- half, an utter stranger to you?’ the actress asked, a grateful look in her beautiful eyes. . ‘. > mia see that you recognize him—if he is the man— ship ripens quickly sometimes, you know.” ‘* Yes, yes, itis true; you do not seem like a stranger to me,” the girl remarked. At this point the necessities of the drama called them toaction again, and the conversa- tion ended. On went the drama, and soon the end of the act came, The whites were surprised by the red-skinned Shawnees, led by their great chief, Wenonga, and the pale-faced renegades, the deadly ene- mies of the Forresters. Roland—Keene—had been pinioned from be- hind by a couple of stalwart supernumeraries, orgeously got up as aborigines, Edith—Miss fostelle—had been grasped by the conquering Dick Braxley and swung into the corner of the stage, and at this moment, just before the ap- pearance of Nick of the Weods in his fiery ca- noe, shooting the rapids, hastening to the rescue of the captive whites, just as the noise subsided to'allow the renegade to speak, the sharp crack of a revolver rung through the theater. The young actress gave utterance to a shrill scream. “Oh, heavens! I am shot!” she cried, and then she sunk fainting into the arms of the actor who played the part of the chief rene- ade, The smoke curling from the private box seemed to indicate from whence the shot had come, and then Keene, too, had happened to have his eyes upon the young man in the box, and though the theater was quite dark, the lights being all turned down to give due effect to the tableau which was to end the act, and the stranger had retired to the rear of the box, yet the young actor had seen the flash of the pow-, der when the pistol was discharged, He was prompt to act. With a vigorous effort be threw aside the make-believe Indians who were holding him captive, and dashed across the stage to the box. ‘‘The man who fired the shot is in the next box,” he exclaimed to the manager and his’ rty. PClear asa bell the voice of the young actor rung through the house, and the audience sud- denly woke to the knowledge that while they had been enjoving the representation of the mimic tragedy, a real one bad been enacted in their presence, Immediately a great shont arose. As one man the immense audience sprung to their feet and roared ont to secure the mur- derer. But the inmate of the box had disappeared. If he had fired the pistol—and there did not seem to be any doubt about the matter, for he was the only occupant of the box, and the shot had certainly come from there—he had made his escape the moment he discharged the wea- n, But how had the fellow got off? The passage from the box led right through the lobby of the theater, and that was filled with sight-seers, so it was impossible for any one to pass through without forcing a way through the crowd. And just as af freed was beginning to gape at his neighbor and frame the question, Where is he? a shout arose from the stage—from be- hind the scene, and then two stalwart stage- carpenters in their shirt-sleeves came dragging out from between the wings, as the side-scenes of the stage are called, the pale-faced foreign- looking stranger who had sat in the box and. was supposed to be the assassin. He had passed by the private way, back of the manager’s box. onto the stage, no doubt supposing that behind the scene all was confu- sion, and he would have no difficulty in making his way to the street. His ignorance of the condition of affairs be- hind the scenes was at once made manifest by this movement, for there isn’t any place on the face of the earth where a stranger will be more quickly spotted than behind the scenes of a well- regulated theater. t is impossible for a stranger to take a step without encountering some one who knows right well that be hasn’t any business there, The stage-carpenters had accosted the yong man before they were fully aware of what h taken place, for he bad no sooner made his ap- pearance through the private door than they we (9% him. was a mystery to them how he had man- aged to come through, for the door was fas- tened by a spring-latch to which only the man- ager, the gasman, and janitor of the house had keys. e door had not been left ajar either, for the two men who were near the door, inctly heard the latch spring in the lock before the door opened. The moment the young man appeared, they barred his passage, and then, when the cry of murder came from the stage, su g he had something to do with it, they seized him despite his ey ng protestations. “That is him! that is the man who fired the EOmiIcbooks s ae | | ) iw t . = con