Audrey

She stood before the Sultan, wide-eyed, with a smile of scorn upon her

lips; then spoke in a voice, low, grave, monotonous, charged like a

passing bell with warning and with solemn woe. The house seemed to grow

more still; the playgoers, box and pit and gallery, leaned slightly

forward: whether she spoke or moved or stood in silence, Darden's Audrey,

that had been a thing of naught, now held every eye, was regnant for an

hour in this epitome of the world.

The scene went on, and now it was to

Moneses that she spoke. All the bliss and anguish of unhappy love sounded

in her voice, dwelt in her eye and most exquisite smile, hung upon her

every gesture. The curtains closed; from the throng that had watched her

came a sound like a sigh, after which, slowly, tongues were loosened. An

interval of impatient waiting, then the music again and the parting

curtains, and Darden's Audrey,--the girl who could so paint very love,

very sorrow, very death; the girl who had come strangely and by a devious

path from the height and loneliness of the mountains to the level of this

stage and the watching throng.

At the close of the fourth act of the play, Haward left his station in the

pit, and quietly made his way to the regions behind the curtain, where in

the very circumscribed space that served as greenroom to the Williamsburgh

theatre he found Tamerlane, Bajazet, and their satellites, together with a

number of gentlemen invaders from the front of the house. Mistress Stagg

was there, and Selima, perched upon a table, was laughing with the

aforesaid gentlemen, but no Arpasia. Haward drew the elder woman aside. "I

wish to see her," he said, in a low voice, kindly but imperious. "A moment

only, good woman."

With her finger at her lips Mistress Stagg glanced about her. "She hides

from them always, she's that strange a child: though indeed, sir, as sweet

a young lady as a prince might wed! This way, sir,--it's dark; make no

noise."

She led him through a dim passageway, and softly opened a door. "There,

sir, for just five minutes! I'll call her in time."

The door gave upon the garden, and Audrey sat upon the step in the

moonshine and the stillness. Her hand propped her chin, and her eyes were

raised to the few silver stars. That mock crown which she wore sparkled

palely, and the light lay in the folds of her silken dress. At the opening

of the door she did not turn, thinking that Mistress Stagg stood behind

her. "How bright the moon shines!" she said. "A mockingbird should be

singing, singing! Is it time for Arpasia?"