of the fair and fashionable senoras were moved, in imitation, to fling a jewel or a ring or two at the feet of the Marguerite—­who was, according to the bills, Mlle. Nina Giraud.  Then, from different parts of the house rose sundry of the stolid hillmen and cast upon the stage little brown and dun bags that fell with soft “thumps” and did not rebound.  It was, no doubt, pleasure at the tribute to her art that caused Mlle. Giraud’s eyes to shine so brightly when she opened these little deerskin bags in her dressing room and found them to contain pure gold dust.  If so, the pleasure was rightly hers, for her voice in song, pure, strong and thrilling with the feeling of the emotional artist, deserved the tribute that it earned.

But the triumph of the Alcazar Opera Company is not the theme—­it but leans upon and colours it.  There happened in Macuto a tragic thing, an unsolvable mystery, that sobered for a time the gaiety of the happy season.

One evening between the short twilight and the time when she should have whirled upon the stage in the red and black of the ardent Carmen, Mlle. Nina Giraud disappeared from the sight and ken of 6,000 pairs of eyes and as many minds in Macuto.  There was the usual turmoil and hurrying to seek her.  Messengers flew to the little French-kept hotel where she stayed; others of the company hastened here or there where she might be lingering in some tienda or unduly prolonging her bath upon the beach.  All search was fruitless.  Mademoiselle had vanished.

Half an hour passed and she did not appear.  The dictator, unused to the caprices of prime donne, became impatient.  He sent an aide from his box to say to the manager that if the curtain did not at once rise he would immediately hale the entire company to the calabosa, though it would desolate his heart, indeed, to be compelled to such an act.  Birds in Macuto could be made to sing.

The manager abandoned hope for the time of Mlle. Giraud.  A member of the chorus, who had dreamed hopelessly for years of the blessed opportunity, quickly Carmenized herself and the opera went on.

Afterward, when the lost cantatrice appeared not, the aid of the authorities was invoked.  The President at once set the army, the police and all citizens to the search.  Not one clue to Mlle. Giraud’s disappearance was found.  The Alcazar left to fill engagements farther down the coast.

On the way back the steamer stopped at Macuto and the manager made anxious inquiry.  Not a trace of the lady had been discovered.  The Alcazar could do no more.  The personal belongings of the missing lady were stored in the hotel against her possible later reappearance and the opera company continued upon its homeward voyage to New Orleans.

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