KITTY'S FATHER

Auckland Star, Volume XXIV, Issue 90, 18 April 1893, Page 6

KITTY'S FATHER

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CHAPTER IX. OUR GREAT SUCCESS, Kittys-father had a brown paper parcel under his arm. As we got away from the crowd he handed it to me saying : •There's more than I promised Dick. Bat if this event comes off according to your expectations, and if Mr Sherridan acts up to his promise and makes my Kitty an offer off marriage, I should like her to have fche rest for a wedding fit out, you know.' A certain hesitation in his manner caused me to say— 1 Bob, this money is all right, isn't it ?' eOf course it is,' he answered testily; then, after a brief pause, he added in a more tender tone— * I've been saving it up for her. I've earned ib all except the box it's in. That I camo across by a fluke ?it seemed thrown in my way as a sign. I thought it would look nicer like if you gave it her in that.'

'Do you wanb me to tell her who it's from.'

'No; befcber not, Dick,' he returned, wibh some reluctance. 'Let her keep on thinking I'm dead and gone till the lasb. Only you might tell her it's a present from a poor fellow who had a great respect for her mother.' For a moment he gave way under the sense of his greab misfortunes ; then recovering his self-command, be added :—' I shall see Kitty play again to-nighb, and then I shall go away. You're nob likely bo Bee me again for some time.'

'I thoughb you were in a show here, Bob,'

' So I was, but we had a row yesterday, and I'm on another job now. Good-bye, Dick.'

He pressed my hand, and strolled away with his loafing gait and melancholy out-of-luck air. .Thero was a fly ab the foot of the hill ; I jumped in, and, telling the driver to take me to the theatre, removed the string that bound the parcel York had given me. On opening the brown paper 1 found ib contained a sandal-wood box carved all over in deep relief with a curious and very artistic design of birds and foliage. Ib was about the width and depth of a cigar box bub longer. 'Ib looked old ; the corners were ornamented with black Eilver, and there was a bos 3of the same mstal in the front. , I know very little about such matters, but it was evident even fco me that the box was a costly and beautiful piece of workmanship, and I wondered then uneasily by whab possible accident ib could have fallen into York's hands. However, there was no time for useless speculation of thab kind ; the main thing was to find what the box contained. Pressing the silver boss the lid opened with a spring, and I perceived inside a packet of bank notes neatly folded and held together by an elastic band. There were fifteen of them, each worth ten pounds; so that when I had slipped five of them in my waistcoat pocket for Cooper there remained just a huudred pounds for Kitty. * A nice little wedding present!' said I to myself, as I carefully folded them and replaced the packet in the box. Ib relieved my mind exceedingly to observe' fihat all the notes were quite fresh and olean, as ib they had just coma from a bank, Which allowed mo to believe thab they represented the honest savings of Kitby's father:" And if he had banked those savings in London it waa obvious that the time demanded for furnishing the money waa no longer than might be reasonably given to going up to town and drawing his account.

The fly rattled up to the theatre just as I finished tying up the parcel. I was pleased to see Miss Cooper still waiting outside, for that proved that the company had not yet left the theatre. At the entrance Davis, the property man, told me that the governor was in his room upstairs waiting to see me. I found Cooper in conversation with the lessee, Mr Fox. ' Have you got it ?' he asked the moment 1 entered. ' Yes,' said I, handing him the notes from my pocket. ' There you are,' said Cooper, holding up the notes as he turned to the lessee. ' Are you satisfied now V 'Ye 3, I am quite satisfied, Mr Cooper,' replied the lessee humbly, ' and I must apologise for having doubted your solvency. * WelJ, you must come down and make that clear to the company. It's the least you can do.' The lessee acquiesced, and wont down to the stage, where they had come to the tag ot the third act. All the company stood in a semicircle, with Mr Sherridan on the prompt side, scrip in hand.' ' Ladies and gentlemen,' said Cooper—he never missed the opportunity of making a speech— * I have just heard from Mr Fox, with feelings of the deepest surprise and regret, that a member of my company—l will not mention names—on behalf of other members not less wanting in loyalty and good feeling, has represented to him that I am in a state of bankruptcy, unable to fulfil my engagements and produce the new comedy this evening. Mr Fox will tell you that he has perfect confidence in me, and that whether the play is produced to-night or not I shall have the sole use of the theatre until Sunday next. Is that the case, Mr F°x?' AT r, 'It is,' said the lessee. 'Mr Cooper can produce the play or keep the house closed as he pleases.' The conspirators looked terribly uncomfortable. After a brief pause Cooper continued. ■ ... 'Now, if I choose to turn nasty i might just shut up the show and leave you to get out of the hole you have got into as you best could. But I'm going to show you that the best friend a mummer can have 13 an honest manager. I shall pay your salaries as I promised before we part this afternoon ; we will shake bands and forget this affair, and when we meet this evening we shall, I hope, be animated by a cofdial feeling of goodwill, to do our bos for the success of the play and our general PrCooper fcywas moved almost to tears by his Own eloquence and magnanimity, and the company were hardly less touched with, the joy of getting their salaries and escaping disaster! When everything was settled up we all shoo, hands with the manage and then with each other, and it was mfstSligrTtiul to the smiling con et in those faces which bad hardly metered a grin amongst them for the past fortnight. Everyone had a joke to cut But tie best of the fun was when we all trooped out by the stage.door to ccc the sudden embarrassment that overcame the turncoats «■***,££ ceived Miss Cooper sailing down the street to .meet them. Brewster looked at tbe dock over tho silversmiths, and bolted ott the other way as if he had suddenly re membered *«< engagement; anot sneaked into a publicbouee, dub majority stuck tog ether in 0 W • passed their late ally as if they haa in their lives seen her before. It J » on Alice Cooper after waiting in te■«J go long to meet them ; but it was nu than she deserved. t t3 . Mr Sherridan went home withus to Jhere was but little time to spare. W jnw nearly five, and we were to to aMJJ Jheatre again by half-past six.. » iUutter of excitement) already. Mery

five minutes Kitty was looking at- her watch.

' I wonder how Coop<> - lfcrived to raise fche wind just) in nick . ..;me;' said Mr Sherridan.

Kitty behind his chair looked at me knitting her eyebrows and pursing up her lips.

' Oh,' said I, ' he told me he needed only fifty pounds bo make up the deficiency, and ib was certain he would not lose his reputation and the chance of recovering all he has losb for a sum like that.'

' I should think not ?' Kitty exclaimed, and then taking up the brown papered parcel which in my excitement I had laid quite carelessly on the chiffonier she said ; • Whab's that uncle ?'

4 My.dear you must not touch that' said I * a friend gave ib me fco take care of.' And for fear of accidents I took it up at once into my bedroom and locked the door before I came down wibh a fervent prayer thab I mighb have to give fche box and its contents to my dear neice. before another day passed.

Ib had been heavy and close all day; while we were ab tea a peal of. thunder made the windows rattle and the next minute the rain began to splash down on the pavement outside making great discs the size of a penny piece. Ab another time we might have taken this as an evil angury, we being rather superstitious in the profession; bub how we hailed ib as a capital good sign, knowing that it would drive fche throng of people into the theatre. In five minutes there was a regular downpour, everyoi:' was running for shelter. Yes, after weeka and weeks of phenomenally fine weather the rain had come. I felb as if I could stand oub in the road and ?eb web through. We were cerbain now that the luck had turned.

Ab six o'clock Mr Sherridan went oub fco fetch a fly, for Kitty had her three new dresses fco take to the theatre, and it was still raining heavily. I thoughb he would never succeed in getting one, but Kibby was more confident. 'He would bring a carriage if he had to take the driver's place,' she said. And sure enough in ten minntes he came back in the hotel omnibus, ' the smallest trap he could find,' and off we went to tho theatre wibh Kibby and her precious dresses.

* Why, they're waiting ab the doors already, Kitty exclaimed as we passed the front of the house. So they were—quite a couple of dozen, but whether they were there to get out of the rain or into the theatre we did nob think ib necessary to discuss.

However, there was no doubb about ib ab seven o'clock when the doors were opened. The crowd then stood in the main righb out across the pavement. Cooper, in his best dress suib, standing on the other side of tho pay place, was frantically exhorting the throng not to crush. There wero ladies in the crowd, and one was going into hysterics. Oh, it was a long timo since he had experienced such a delightful ten minutes.

I couldn't stand ib, bub I couldn't keep away either. I was obliged to go on the the stage and peep through the curtain at the audience streaming into the house. There thoy were scrambling over the backs of the pit seats, rushing along the dress circle to get in the middle, the attendants losing their heads and sending every one to the wrong sido of the stalls, and a fight taking place in the gallery amidst such shouting and whistling and screaming as ordinarily one only hears on Boxing Nighb aba pantomime house. While I was standing there Cooper rushed past _ calling for the property man to write a biU—'Pit and Circle Full.' You would have thought hia life depended on getting that bill oub. When I wenb into the orchestra at 7.30 I could not sco a a single gap anywhere. Every seat was taken— although Cooper,five minutes before tho doors opened, had removed the lines of demarcation and turned four rows of halfcrown pit-stalls into five shilling orchestras, and transformed tho whole of the throe shilling balcony into four-and-six fauteuils. Mr Sherridan had given up his box to tho press, and there were a good many representatives of the sporting and dramatic papers crowded in them ; but in justice to those of the better sort, I must say that they paid for their stalls like gontlemen. Up in the gallery in the middle of tho front row there was one head that I recognised— a head with close-cropped grey bair. Kitty's father had taken the besb place; he musb have waited ab tho doors a long while. The roughs up there were still scuffling, shouting, and whistling about him, bub he took no notice of them. He had come there to see his daughter, and seemed to have no regard for anything 'Poor Bob.' I said to myself, 'with all your faults you have a good and pure affection for Kitty. You are more to be pitied than blamed, for surely if calamity had not overthrown your reason, you would never have given way to intemperance, or fallen under the influence of evil doers. And but for that you might now have been as well off as I, and your hearb would be gladdened by tbe responsive love of an affectionato child, instead of living desolate and wretched, an outcast and a vagabond ! I thoughb no more aboub him then, for 1 had my own business to attend to, and I was anxious thab my part of the performance should bo up to the mark. I opened my score, turned the corners of the leaves, assured myself that all my men were in their places, and then fixed my eye on the prompt side of the curtain. At length it was drawn aside, Cooper nodded to me, 1 raised my baton, gave three taps with my foot, looking to the righb and lefb, and then off we wont. Nothing could have gone better, but the delicacy of my andante movement was quite losb on the audience because of the row in the gallery; however, the roughs quieted down in the fortissimo, and my finale was followed by a round of applause. Then the prompt bell struck, and the curtain ran up on the firsb act of tbe comedy. , , ry , There ia no doubb about it: the Bluestocking ' was a genuine success, attained by legitimate and praiseworthy means. The dialogue was smart and brisk, bristling with edod points; the business was neab and full of ludicrous conceits ; the sibuations were laughable in the extreme, and the serious interest running through the plot, never once slackening, increased with each scene and culminated only at the very end of the lasb act. And it was acted most admirably. Every line was taken up smartly, nob a poinb was missed. X horo was nob one hitch from beginning to end. Kitty of course took the firsb honours, and she desorved thorn. Throwing herself bearb and eo-ul into her part, she played with the freshness and vigour of a young actress but with the perfect self control which only comes with a full experience of stage craft aud a sound knowledge ot the art. Whenever she came upon the stage a murmur of expectancy ran through tho house. There seemed to bo a general feeling thab something good was coming, and not once was this expectation at fault. There waa a great deal of her own character in the naivete and archness she threw into her parb, and this delightful manner, combinod with her bright, intelligent, and beautiful little face, her lithe, young figure, and graceful bearing, made her Bimply bewitching. _ The resb of tho company did thoir very best, and very well thoy played too, workod up as thoy were by their own good humour and the roady appreciation of tiie audience. Tho houso was on tho titter from beginning to end, their mirth breaking oub now and bhen with long and loud peals of laughter. Thoir satisfaction and delight found oxnression at the end of each acb in such a thunder of applause that the curtain had to bo raised on the tableau, and not content with that they thundered again until all tho actors had crossed the stage before'

the curtain. Ib was good fco hear such unanimous applause, for doubtless a good many had been drawn bo the theatre by the vulgar bills in anticipation of something very different. But I think these people felb pleased wifch themselves in finding their minds capable of diversion by seemly wit and honest fun. As forme, though I knew every word of the play by hearb I never laughed so hearbily before aba performance in all my life. Then when bhe curtain had fallen on the last act, and all the actors had crossed the stage hand in hand, there rose from the press box and different parts of the house a cry for fche author, and this being taken up by the rest of fche audience, who couldn'b have enough of the phiy, bhe whole house rang with shouts of ' Author, author !' I cried oub wibh fcho resb, clapping my hands, all my band following the example. The curtain was again drawn aside, and Cooper, with bis wig in one hand, led on Mr Sherridan wifch the other. On the opposite side the curtain was drawn aside, and the resb of the company came on to the stage to join in applauding their friend the author. That was more to Mr Sherridan than all fche plaudits of bhe audience. He crossed over, and, baking Kitby's hand, led her back bo where ho had lefb Cooper, and, sbanding between bhem, ho bowed his acknowledgments fco fche house and retired, bowing again to Kifcfcy as she passed before him. I glanced up at fchegallery. Kitby's father was iibanding in his place, almost alone now turning his hab idly in hishands.sbilllooking downonthesbage. Hewasnofclookingatme he seemed losb in reverie. Maybe he was looking back through a score of years and seeing again his lost wife then as radiant wifch youthful beauty and happiness as Kifcfcy was now. When I burned to dive under fche stage, and looked up again, Kitty's father was making his way slowly round the fronb of bhe gallery, his hab pulled down over his eyeß, bub his face still turned downwards towards fche empty stage.

The house was empty now. There was no one lefb in ib, bub the bwo attendants silently drawing the long shroud-like sheets over the front of the balcony. To me there was something sepulchral and depressing in the stillness and vacancy ; still more dismal and cheerless must it have seemed to thab forlorn and friendless man, (To he continued.)