TOPICS OF THE DAY.

■ ♦ (Prom the "Star's" London Correspondent.) NOTABLE MEN AND WOMEN. A NIGHT AT THE SAVAGE CLUB. THE THEATRES. KYRLE BELLEW HIB EXPERIENCES IN MELBOURNE. j EUGENIE LEGRAND. — A WEDDING, TITE j INTERRUPTED HONEYMOON. i A very pretty story is going the rounds i of Anglo-Colonial society about Mr Kyrlo Bellew and Mdlle. Eugenic Legrand, the • French actress who has just made such a ■ success in " Fanny Lear " at the Royalty \ I Theatre. I A few years ago, before " Curly " : Bellew had achieved a reputation as an actor — when, indeed, he was a modest , J penny-a-liner on the Melbourne Herald — . Mdlle. Legrand came out to the Colony to i try and play in English. She had not, : however, mastered the tongue sufficiently, and after failing ignominiously, waß glad to throw herself on the friendship of Fairclough, the tragedian, and live with him as amic intime. All went well till the , irresistible Kyrle Bellew — then, as now, ; : the idol of countless boudoirs — came on the scene. He loved Eugenic, and conquered her — conquered her so completely that one afternoon, during Fairclough's absence, playing up country, he and she strolled down to the Catholic cathedral and (both being Catholics) got legally married. Their honeymoon was at its zenith when Fairclough returned suddenly. On finding his bed, board and lady friend usurped by a too attractive stranger, the tragedian would listen to no explanations. He simply seized Kyrle by the scruff of the neck, and, before the distracted Eugenic could interfere, had applied an iron-tipped boot to a prominent portion of the bridegroom's person and kicked him into the j street. After this interlude Fairclough and ' Eugenic resumed living together as if nothing had happened, and Bellew, not to be outdone in coolness, quitted the Colony. This autumn, when Bellew learnt hi 3 lawful spouse was coming to London, he arranged for an American tour in order to avoid her. Nevertheless, they met accidentally at a Sunday evening soiree before he sailed, and were introduced to each other by the hostess, to the great delight of onlookera who knew the story. Mdlle. Legrand would now, no doubt, like to live j with her husband. Unfortunately, she is j not quite bo juvenile as she used to be, ' whilst Kyrle remains (from a feminine point of view) adorable as ever. j A NIGHT AT THE SAVAGE CLUB. Those who saw the' "Tambour Major" Company during its Australasian tour are sure to have grateful recollections of Miss Kate Churd, one of the most delightful of opera-bouffe songstresses. I met her husband, Deane Brand, the other evening at the Savage Club. He has a very pretty tenor voice, which does well enough for " sing-songs," &c, but disappears suddenly when strained in a concert hall or theatre. Brand gave us " The Armourer's Prentice," a new song of Walter Slaughter's, . that went down rather well. CHRISTIE MURRAY. — MISS CON6UELO'b COLLAPSE. The triumphs of this particular evening (one of the big nights at the " Savage ") were, however, a recitation by David Christie Murray and some Bongs by Isidore de Lara, who is simply without rival as a r composer of passionate love lyrics. I was : introduced to Christie Murray, a kindly- j natured elderly gentleman, whom you I would not suspect at first sight of being the : successful novelist of the day, though his conversation soon reveals an original bent of mind. | By the way, Agnes Consuelo, a great big woman, whom you may also remember with the "Tambour Major" Company, has taken the Opera Coinique Theatre, and opened last Saturday with a new extravaganza, li The Fay of Fire." It failed com- ; pletely, and I hear the gentleman who ad- ; vanced the coin to start the enterprise ! will see very little of it back. j "MATFAIR" AT THE 8T JAMEB* THEATRE. ) THE BIG BCENE DESCRIBED. ! "May fair," Mr Pinero's version of Sardou's " Maison Neuve," at the St j James' Theatre, though generally voted an ! unpleasant piece, is drawing crowds, thanks j to Mrs Kendal's playing in one great scene. ' This is where the heroine — a frivolous ' married woman — having (as she -supposes) discovered her husband's faithlessness, ; makes an assignation with a lover in her boudoir at midnight. Before the man comes she, however, repents, and tries to lock him out, but fruitlessly. An exciting interview follows, the lover alternately protesting and reproaching ; the wife first imploring, and then commanding him to begone. At length the lover is roused by hearing himself called a coward. The room is hot and stuffy. He feels choked with conflicting emotions, and aeeing a glass of what he supposes to bo water on the table drains it at a draught. Unfortunately, it is not water at all, but ■■ an overdose of chloral, which the deserted wife had poured out prior to his advent with suicidal intentions. The unhappy j woman has hardly time to give a sup- I pressed shriek of horror at his act, when ! the man staggers and falls lifeless at her feet. Simultaneously loud knocking is heard. The young husband has returned suddenly, bringing with him a detective whom he has engaged to help in hunting down an absconding clerk. The wife, it appears, saw this clerk last, bo they find they must rouse her up to ask some questions. With a desperate effort she manages, before they enter, to roll the : corpse under the sofa, and seat herself as ! far from the light as possible. An agonising : five minutes follows. The wife cannot altogether retain composure, and again and again the men seem on the brink of acci- ! dentally discovering all. At length, however, they go, and the miserable woman Binks fainting to the ground. How Mrs Kendal acts this terrible scene only those who have seen her in " The Squire " can imagine. With many actresses it would be revolting to a degree, but she manages somehow both to hold the audi- ; ence breathless at her audacity, and retain \ their sympathy. THEATRICAL GOSSIP. The feature of Drury Lane pantomimo this year is tc be a procession of historic beauties from the earliest times to the present day. Augustus Harris advertised for : 300 pretty girls to fill the parts. It is said he received ovor 3000 applications, some of them from downright frumps long past their first youth. i The " Colleen Bawn " does not attract such large audiences to the Adelphi as ■ " Arrah-na-Pogue " did, and G. R. Sims' new melodrama, " llarbour Lights," has consequently been put in rehearsal. It deals with life in the navy now-a-days, '■ much as " In the Ranka " dealt with life in ; the army. A battle between ironclads is i said to be the sensational feature of the piece. j Etnilc Waldteufel, the popular composer j of dance music, is conducting some of his j own walt/CX and polkas at Covent Garden j concerts nightly. They .ire very good, and from a piano point of view preferable to the more elaborate German productions, but played by an orchestra they will not compare with these of Straus3. Waldteu- ' fel's old waltzes I expect you know. Of '< the newer ones I liko the " Douce J Souvenaneo " waltz and "'Jou-Jou " polka i best. A vocal waltz, " The Mill Stream," | is also in great favour at Covent Garden. THK MAGAZINE SKKIALS FOR 188('.. The arrangements of tho magazines for next year are only fairly promising. Miss j Braddon supplies the leading serial to j " Belgravia," the title of her tale ■ j(" Mohawks "') being rather a happy ■ inspiration. There will also bo another novel in this magazine, entitled " That Other Person," by an anonymoiiß author. " Good Words '" falls back again on Miss | Linskill, whoso " From the Heather to the i Northern Sea" was the principal serial in j 1884-. Her new story is called " Tho ( Haven Under the Hill." " This Man's j Wife," by George Manville Fenn, will also run through several numbers, commencing in January. W. D, Howella is wi-itiiig " The Mini*-

; ter'e Charge " for the Century, and the , author of " Lorna Doone," fi. D. Blaokmoro, I has completed " Springhaven," a romance of rural England during the Napoleonic ! wars, for Harper's. The English Illustrated j will of course rely principally for fiction on Christie Murray's "Aunt Rachel," and Blackwood's on the clever " Crack of Doom " that is attracting so much notice. The announcements of Cornhill, Temple Bar, and the Argosy," are not out yet.