FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128  
129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   >>   >|  
tress of beauty and genius is sure to excite. For more than a week, now, the prevailing topic had been this young girl; first the promise of a brilliant debut, then the momentary triumph and sudden breakdown; now came the news of her illness, true, in so much that she was seriously ill, but exaggerated into a romance which gave her out as dying with a shock of a too sensitive nature. Olympia sang gloriously to crowded houses. In the romance woven around this young girl her parentage had been hinted at, and the practiced woman of the stage had managed to turn the public rumor into popularity for herself. She had taken up the opera where Caroline had sunk down, and carried it triumphantly forward, filling the world with admiration of herself and sympathy for the girl. On the morning when Caroline's illness was made public, some young men were seated in the window of a club-house, and one of them threw down the Times with an impatient movement. "So we are not to have this new singer again to-morrow night or the next," he said. "Here is Olympia's name in the bills, while the other is ill with something on the brain or nerves." "All a sham, to enhance the public interest, I dare say," answered another, taking up the journal. "There is nothing these musical people will not do for popularity. But it really was not needed here; the girl has beauty enough to carry her forward, even without her glorious voice. For my part, I am all in a fever to see her again." A young man sat in this circle, apparently occupied by the panorama drifting through the streets. As the conversation went on, the color came and went in his face, and his eyes began to burn; but he said nothing, while the others went on: "Who is the girl? what is her real name? Some say she is an American; others, that she is Olympia's own daughter, to whom all names are alike; but, then, where was the woman Olympia born? Now and then a word drops from the pretty lips which is purely American; but then she has been all over the world, and has gathered something from all nations, so that one can never make a true guess about her." "Does this girl look like her?" inquired one of the young men, who had not been at the opera last night. "No, not exactly," was the answer. "She is taller, more queenly, in fact; quite a different style. This new girl is superb." "While Olympia is simply bewildering, changeable as the sky, erratic as a comet. We all underst
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128  
129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Olympia
 

public

 

popularity

 
Caroline
 
forward
 
beauty
 

American

 

romance

 

illness

 

streets


needed
 
conversation
 

occupied

 

glorious

 

panorama

 

drifting

 

apparently

 

circle

 

taller

 

answer


queenly
 

inquired

 

erratic

 
underst
 

changeable

 
bewildering
 
superb
 

simply

 

daughter

 

nations


gathered

 

pretty

 
purely
 
singer
 

gloriously

 
crowded
 

houses

 

nature

 

sensitive

 

managed


parentage

 

hinted

 
practiced
 

prevailing

 
excite
 
genius
 

promise

 

brilliant

 
exaggerated
 

breakdown