for the certainty of disturbing others.  The accompanying music became faster as the inner curtain slowly rose, revealing the great stage set for the first act.  He looked at it carelessly, indifferently, his thoughts elsewhere, yet dimly conscious of the sudden hush all about him, the leaning forward of figures intent upon catching the opening words.  The scene portrayed was that of a picturesque Swiss mountain village.  It was brilliant in coloring, and superbly staged.  For a moment the scenery; with great snow-capped peaks for background, caught his attention.  If was realistic, beautifully faithful to nature, and he felt his heart throb with sudden longing to be home, to be once more in the shadow of the Rockies.  But the actors did not interest him, and his thoughts again drifted far afield.

The act was nearly half finished before the Star made her appearance.  Suddenly the door of the chalet opened, and a young woman emerged, attired in peasant costume, carelessly swinging a hat in her hand, her bright face smiling, her slender figure perfectly poised.  She advanced to the very centre of the wide stage.  The myriad of lights rippled over her, revealing the deep brown of her abundant hair, the dark, earnest eyes, the sweet winsomeness of expression.  This was the moment for which that vast audience had been waiting.  Like an instantaneous explosion of artillery came the thunder of applause.  Her first attempted speech lost in that outburst of acclaim, the actress stood before them bowing and smiling, the red blood surging into her unrouged cheeks, her dark eyes flashing like two diamonds.  Again and again the house rose to her, the noise of greeting was deafening, and a perfect avalanche of flowers covered the stage.  From boxes, from parquet, from crowded balcony, from top-most gallery the enthusiastic outburst came, spontaneous, ever growing in volume of sound, apparently never ending.  She looked out upon them almost appealingly, her hands outstretched in greeting, her eyes filling with tears.  Slowly, as if drawn toward them by some impulse of gratitude, she came down to the footlights, and stood there bowing to left and right, the deep swelling of her bosom evidencing her agitation.

As though some sudden remembrance had occurred to her in the midst of that turmoil, of what all this must mean to others, to those of her own blood, she turned to glance lovingly toward that box in which they sat.  Instantly she went white, her hands pressing her breast, her round throat swelling as though the effort of breathing choked her.  Possibly out in front they thought it acting, perhaps a sudden nervous collapse, for as she half reeled backward to the support of a bench, the clamor died away into dull murmur.  Almost with the ceasing of tumult she was upon her feet again, her lips still white, her face drawn as if in pain.  Before the startled audience could awaken and realize the truth, she had commenced the speaking of her lines, forcing them into silence, into a hushed and breathless expectancy.