Tales and Sketches.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1055, 22 April 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

Tales and Sketches.

THE:CRI;MSON,?E!ALS., BY ALFRED THOMSON. My story does riot absolutely belong to the \ Foyer, but tho first : time Inlet' Eva Steele Sfwns in the Green, Room of the Happy Weight Theatre in the Strand. "I was passing through the room with the. manager,' AvM was; pYbmising witli'that I rank and OOrdial air of his to produce a comedy 1 of mine which was, never meant to affront the, glare of the. footlights—ia. his .theatre, at loftat—when I noticed;standing, before, the glass, arranging: the clinging folds of a satin dress; a ita.ll, graceful girl, with golden hair:] and stond'bluo eyes, the painted lino round] whioh. intensifying tho lashes, long onough almost to do without such aid,'gav6 force to> their effect, and advertised the heartless look tho.otherwiso lovely face .impressed oiime, I had: hover seen Miss Steele before, ahd;was then and there,introduced to her. •• She was.understudying tho qtnr lady's part, and the star in question, Miss Cora de Quiricey, having been; suddenly attacked by conge'stionof the lungs, Miss Steele informed mo/'Without a' shade of pity for the invalid, tjhat;,' ,, tliank'God Isbe'dgotachance atlast,' and that it served that hoorid Cora right for lier insufferable' airs," ', ]Vliat was nearly death to poor Cora de tjuincey, who had a mother and several brothers to keep, was such a chance to Eva Steele, that Jimmy Savage, tho mildest man ini'spite of his,patronym that evergraced Her Majesty's service, fell so insanely in love with her from his seat in the stalls, that she soon disappeared from the bills to become his wife, Colonel Savage was no chicken, and, what is more, was no fool; and yet the glamour of Eva's marble eyes, the dazzling brilliancy of her metallic hair, coupled with an education she had received in one of tho first schools at Brussels before her parents died, gave him no chance of analysing her character, or allowing reason to interfere in his love affairs, Jimmy's heart was in his eyes, and as he looked in hers he only saw his own big manly soul reflected back, for slid had.neither love nor kindness in her nature, She was Ono of those women, as he' found,soon to his hurt, who must"be. conquering, cost it to others what it might. Her only desire was triumph for her beauty, her only satisfaction the pleasure of gratifying her vanity. Other hearts might bleed, other natures waste in grief, but if they bled forher, her pride waa all the greater; if they wasted beneath her glance, her arrogance would be the more replete. When I noticed the withdrawal of Miss Steele's name from the Happy Thought bills, and the absence of Jim Savage's smart figure from the Rag smoking room, I had no idea of connecting the two events. I had never met the young lady since; I had never seen the two together, but it was quite a year after 'that I met either of them again, and then I, found they were man'arid wife. Wife and man'much better describe the couple, as he was,a mere slave, broken-hearted, as his silent gloominess seemed to indicate, while she was driving her triumphal car as usual with her husband sitting behind her. • 1 will tell you whero I met them—it was in Madrid, at the table d'hote of the Hotel de Paris, I had just arrived that morning from San Sebastian, and had been all day worshipping at the shrine of Velasquez in the picture gallery beyond tho Prado. I had been translated to that heaven of painting, where Titian and Valasquez are the gods, Murillo, Ribera, and Goya, the demigods, of art, but though I had fed on [esthetics all the afternoon, I found an appetite for a sublunary cuisine by the time I had changed and sat down to dinner, Two seats were empty on my right, when the-soup came round, but weresoonfilled, to my astonishment, by, Jim Savage and Eva Steele; or, perhaps, I should now say by Mrs, Savage and her husband Jimmy, When my old comrade and I had shaken hands-he was really glad to see me—l was introduced to the lovely Mrs, Savage, but was naturally discreet euough not to insist upon a former acquaintance, brief as it had been, and, indeed, I was not sure whether she remembered my face again, though she had not altered in the least. The,same Wavy, silken hair a rejletsmetalliques, like the Hispano-Mauresque faience intheMadrileno bricabrac shops—the same pale-blue eyes a baby Gorgon might have boasted—the same craving after conquest, were all there, and very much there, during dinnertime, Though no black line waß round those eyes as in the Green Room of the Happy Thought,.her brows and lashes were strongly tinted, and' as she dropped her glances with a, vaoant'innocence right into the pupils of the French and Spanish cavaliers at tabic, fewpfjtliese impressionable southerners could resist, the temptation to throw themselves under the wheels of the Steele triumphal car. She never ceased though we talked pictures, and she found the time to let me know she enjoyed the horrors of Ribora's torturedsaints more than all, as quite a new sensation. The Frenchmen posed their utmost, the' Spaniards even forgot their lighted papilitos in contemplation'of this northern lily, and ! quite a flutter travelled round tho sailed manger as we rose, preceded by,this, golden Vision, to take.bui; coffee in the room above.; The salon Savage and his wife; had taken on the first floor liad "a balcony which overlooked, the Puerta, del Sol.; and thero we lounged, watching the white-winged pigeons as they sailed .through tho, air round the splashing fountain in the midst, or listening to the noisy newsboys selling their evening editions, or to the.,mule-bells as teams were shouted and sworn at by the drivers hurrying across the square, •■ ■• ' ■ ' ■ '■' ■ '.From beneath our balcony oame the whiffs o£ '■■ smoke' curliug from the everlasting cigar- • ettes which seem never to quit the lips of your true Spaniard; 1 Jimmy was'consoling himself jfor his wife's neglect (for she paid no more attention to him now. than she would to hor groom"; not'as much as to her maid) with; a large cigar and acarafon of. fiery brandy— I 'am sorry to say, she had,driven bim.to drinking.' Mrs, Savage and I. were leaning onthe balustrade, both at our", ease, Sheliad tried to .Juggernaut me by telling me with downcast eyauhe' had not forgotten how she' 1 had met- me- in the 'theatre some fourteen'months ago, and-how,she : had/always'regretted r was; not, at their Wedding; which', indeed, had'been, fluite-prirate; but'tinding' that the seed' her eye's \vbre had' fallen upon harder ground than she expected, and firiding,'perjiaps) -the,'heat,which still radiated' from.the walls, aljoutfus .too.oppressive" to allow of her insisting,; we [leant over.- 1 and watched the groups^bplow., Afc thewellknown, ,cafis,wjiere the atjilctes jf 'tho Plaza de Toro's" always Ffasciiclo may be seen in all tke.glbry of his popularity, and Lagartijo may ; be;heard firing Off his jokes—where the gigantic'/«a<fw exchanges cigarettes with some spoilt chulo or sends a flying compliment to .some bright-eyed gipsy who chance to pass-a picturesque group of "•M-fightera Tvere - standing or sittingat the • corner of,the building, Among those most, prominent ( was"a toreador whose distinction made him stand alone, a'mong.his comrades; The grace .of the principals is remarkable among all .the artists of the, : Taui'oma'chic arena; their muscular agility and constant oxercise,. combined with a natural beauty of ' form, and with' hands and feet : proverbially i small, give thorn, tho:.supple.elegance of' superior ballot-masters; but, as aide, their j features are marked by repulsive brutality, and their types are anything but prepossess- > ing, ■ : ■/! J3ut the toreador in question was not only, ■ graceful as 1 a Greek' Apollo, |bn't,singulaiiy handsome' even for 1 a- Spaniard; '"He' ; w6re

ihoiashtonableundress of the bull-fighter^-.. a dark myrtle 7 vJilvot ''jacket trimmed with' black braid, breeches to match, tight-fitting, gaiters, and the round hat, with its silk 'pompon— so characteristic of all that isj Spanish,'worn by map, or mdj'a, Escamillo, Figaro, and even Carmen Herself. The hair, drawn back from the forehead, terminated behind inthe short plaited pigtail which diajtinguishes the profession, and to which is attached thel'Bilk; chignon ; in lull, dress. As :usual, tho'fae'dwas sliaved oxcept'iwo short (whiskers, which with the hair and oyes were 'black a 8 a crow's wing, on which a bronze reflection adds brilliancy, to the shade. His. complexion olive;'rendered darkof : by the .whiteness of his teeth. '" ■" '' ■" '' ,

' The toreador I learnt shortly,after was ;a sobre-saliente de espadas, or l'supernumeraryespada,.ot sWordsman-the man who kills 'the bull after he has passed successively through tho ehilos, picadors, wt&Tianderilleros. His riamo was Salvador, and tho story was current that ho was a young man 'of good family, who, having in a quarrel had : recourse to the navaja, the wound terminating fatally to his antagonist, had turned ]bull-fighter to escape pursuit.: fie .was, 1 though young, already well known to. the Madrid publio, and was, often called on by name to kill the bull, ,even when Frascuelo and El Gordito were presont as tspadas. Salvador was rocking himself baokwards on a chair before the cafe doors, holding a glass of Manzanillaup in the air before him, when his eye caught the last rays of the sun' reflected; in a phosphorio halo round.Eva Savage's beautiful head, A start of pleasure, sent a flush all over his faco, only to be followed by a transient shade of melancholy, which seemed to say, "I might have once aspired to know that angel face, but now— Ay demil". The pang, if pang there was, soon gave way to the'desire to pose, He threw his money about, paying for drinks and standing cigarettes. He chaffed the great Frascuelo till' the , primer hand' seemed to seek the trusty blade his pocket probably concealed; and the Puerta del Sol' rang with his' musical voice,

Eva, .leaning on the iron bar before her, never took her eyes off him, and her basilisk glances'seemed to exercise a magnetic power over the handsome Spaniard.,, Though 'she understood not a word of the ,ill:Ooncealed compliments to Albion's beauties,' which were freely bandied : among the athletes below, and though we still conversed in snatches of dilatory dialogue about the latest news of London and Paris, a mute confederacy was being instituted between the two, which " becks and smiles" were.fast converting into a flirtation,' As we, however, had a' box at the circo, a move was atlast made, 1 and we left the balcony, but not before Eva Savage had taken out a yellow rose she had in her hair, and thrown it with, a scornful gesture on to the pavement beneath.' In a country where the language of flowers is as well known as the fluttering of a fan, the yellow rose, which was rapidly picked up by the delighted Salvador, 'meant only to him that she was married, but that he Waa loved, Poor fellow! if he had only known that love was an article she took no interest in when once her wheols had gone over her victim, he would have thrown the yellow petals of that rose to the pigeons round the fountain, or, still better, scattered them in the gutter at his feet. The following day thero was to be a Fiesta de Tons, in plain English, a bull-fight, and we all settled to take places at once, and in spite of urgent remonstrances from a pretty American at breakfast, who declared it was too horrid for any woman to sit through, and was worse ''thau jobbing an Indian's eye out and sliding on it," Mrs.' Savage declared her intention of witnessing the performance, and meant what she declared. Besides, the weather being splendid, the King was to honor the Royal Box, and the bulls on this occasion were to bo the finest aud fiercest of their breed. Colonel Savage's courier had secured seats not far from Royalty, and Frascuelo and Lagartijo were " underlined," as I heard Mrs, Savage remark, while Salvador was in reserve as soka-saliente. It was to be a grand day, We soon arrived, and, led by our courier beneath sombre arches and through dark stone passages, we emerge on to a gallery, whence we enter a private box, in which cane-bottomed chairs do duty for stalls, We are in the shade; that goes without saying, as the sun is broiling the cheaper seats on the farther side of the arena j and the flutter of fans all along the opposite hemicycle reminds one much of a cloud of butterflies hovering over a bed of flowers, I rather think some oneof the chroniclersof bull-fights, Alexandre Dumas, TheophileGauthier, or our own Ford —perhaps Lord Byron -had been already struck by the resemblance. It looks like nothing else, and therefore one may be pardoned for re : fceling the similarity. The orange-sellers are throwing up their golden fruit with unorriug dextonty to any thirsty! soul not content with aqua fresco,, and the cigarettes are .surrounding the groups of sportsmen and amateurs with a blue haze, 1 ; but I am not going to ; describe a bull-fight, at. least not in detail. I must; leave my readers, if they want an accurate picture, to go. to any of .the authors above mentioned. Two or three bulls had been disposed ofpicado, or goaded to madness by the picadors; banderilleadoyiov larded with barbed arrows; (banderillas, dressed up in out paper and tiusel)—and finally killed with a blow of the sword by the espada, or put out of their misery,:if not dead, by a stab from the knife of \\m t cackkta, We had all of us, even Eva, got acclimatized to the unsportsmanlike . cruelties practised on the wretched horses, who in Spain are given up to the bull's ferocious gorings, their sufferings being part of the show,,whereas in Portugal, the, owners show their address by preserving the, poor animals from the horns of .their enemy, No,horrors had been.spared us; horses had been ripped up j all their internal anatomy had ,been spread to the winds; and turn one's head away as one might, it was difficult to;avoid the revolting sight. , Eva, to my astonishment, not to ,say.. disgust, seemed to take as much interest as .any of the Spanish men or women present in the death-struggle of .the agonised beasts,

She was, a great success; -, all, oyes. and - glancos, when.Toro ,was,,not, en evidence, being flatteringly directed towards her, She certainly looked..lovely, She had put on a rich black mantilla," which relieved the sunny gold of her hair, and made a star of her head in a night of lace"; oneyellow rose was on onesideof her comb, and a large Parisian fan completed tho picture,■: '' "' "'' Salvador had seen her, and had seemed, not only to her, but to the populace, as idling; in the ring, so engrossed was,' ho' in.contemplation'of the "English"'angel," as she had icon already nicknamed by-the crowd.-' He had taken no part in the show, and had al-ready-had one ortovb observations thrown'at him in the Coarse"chaff of the bull-ring; ; Bnt hisopportunitywascoming.' ' ■ ' ■ '-'■ • I Fresh horses had .been brought in, The ficador'es had' taken- their places) lance in hand, on either side the ringV : The chulbs,with their' bright'red and yellow mantles, were waiting to spring over tho lists, if'the new-comer became too. familiar.' The iron gates of the ioril were opened for the fourth time; and a rush of dust and gravel, with one of the doors torn off ono hinge by a passing dig of the new bull's right horn, showed, if tho ringing acclamations of the'spectators nad not. proved it, ; what a wild beast had como upon the scene;' " : The new bill waa a porfect model of what a gladiator bull ought to be—something between a rhinoceros" and a" greyhound-all muscle and weight before, all agility and nerve 0 bis' coktl'sbone like steel in the sun, and tho only spots were

the.crimson ring round the bead-like eye and !}hYfbam'-flakes in ln\br)wny ohost. The 'asks, or Bpears, as the liorns are called in 'bull argot, quite deserved the name; long, polished, and sharp as needles,,they curved outwards and upwards on either side of his head with perfeot symmetry! r'.libckhart's " Harpado of Xarama" could not havo been a finer subject'for a' sculptor \ aud : when he stood still for a mqinent in the .centre of the, arena,!he.looked •','" ,' '■' , ,". Like Bomcthing mqltou out.ol iron, or hown ' ' ,' fromoiit tho rook'"' '' ' "" ■ ' ll'tHijlV.' i/»1.1i.'1. -'I ' ■ - .:; ■ ,;,■ 'i. But in shorter tnne.uian it takes to.,write.it,, lie baa ;stabbcd, horse ,af to-the, heart, wj'th, his, .vengeful. ; .spea'rs r ;, Five Hopes lie dead, or dypgj.in, the ring, and, Btjll„£pro seems as ever,'as full of;pluck, and, as jready-to revenge his, breed. had.'djsappeare.dji s?,s«/«, hacli brought in, : new ;banderillas'sparkling j and ribbonß, Then Salvador; stood out,'and.,turning.;to our box .with,,a slight I motion of sie head and eyes, which, was .re-1 sponded; to with. hayghty. acquiescence, .by, Eva, who felt,herself a, queen for .the nonce,he took.twp banderillas, shorter by.half.than the usual iron darts, and, proceeded by a chjdo carrying a chair which he balanced .on one hand as lie' went along,, he throw 'aside'the! dark blue caj)fl,'wh'ich had as yet half-hiSilen him,' and' walked 'gracefully, forward,'' his lithe form'perfectly fitted' in' a 'violet satin 1 jacket, profusely, covered .with black.chenille; violet breeches, round'tne'walsi'with aii amber silk'scarf,, shoes, and'pink 1 silk stocking's, ttiroiigh which the blue veins on his small but muscular instep e'ould be clearly seen';' the ! co'stumo completed by'a'dazzling white shirt, with low collar'and pale violet tie, the usual tassel-covered cap'on'the head, and ohignon of lace attached to the hair behind. '

: The bull was occupied spitefully prodding a dead horse in the sand; when the chair'was placed almost in the centre ! of the arena; a little towards our side, "' ' '

Taking his .seat 1 just as we had seen him j the night before at the cafis, balancing him- j self, backward and .forward with'his; right foot on his left knee, and holding gracefully the two small banderillas, onein each' hand, above his head, beseemed to invite: the ball to & cotillon, so easy was his manner, bo inoffensive his pose. • The with thenmantles floating behind them,'tempted the 'great black'brute away from his dead victim, until by short runs they brought him within range of Salvador. Then the bull, to his in. tense indignation, became aware of this man's temerity—actually sitting as carelessly as if he were on the Puerfa del Sol, sipping his .Manzanilla, Toro was disconcerted, and stood pawing the .sand with his forefoot, while Salvador, lowering' his barb,,coolly lighted a cigarette, and puffed the smoke; into the warm air as he resumed his position, This was too much for Toro, who. bounding at the insult, promptly lowered his'horns, and ploughing up the sand behind him,' ; rushed at the charge towards his laughing foe," On came the bull, and still'Yo motion | but the easy balanoe of the chair, and the rising blue from the cigarette, In another instant he must bo transfixed, when, quicker ; than thought, and with the grace of a dancing faun, the toreador steps aside, planting j with the lightest certainty the two stings on 'either side the neck, behind the horns; at , the same moment, the chair he had been sitting on a second before was sent revolving 'into the air to fall a mass of firewood in the ;arena, The cheers that roared into Bpace ; were checked as suddenly, for Toro was not ■such a fool as lie looked, Ho gave no further ! thoughts to the chair, but, turning rapidly round, made a second charge at Salvador, 'who stood unconcernedly where he had fixed jhis banderillas, Turning round, he saw the bull coming, and taking one whiff at his cigarette, he threw it in the air; and as the bull came close up to him, he placed one foot between his lowered horns and sprang lightly over his flanks, before Master Toro had time to shake his ears. The shout of the entire ring of spectators was deafening, and as the bull paused to take breath, a unanimous cry went up for the sobm saliente to kill his adversary., Frascuelo himself brought him the sword, and tnuleta, or red flag, with which he defies the bull, The grand brute, glistening with blood and perspiration, and looking more like bronze than ever, had partly wandered, partly been lured up to the side of the arena, close under our box. I cannot think lit was not intentional; anyhow, there ho 'stood, panting and defiant, After making his obeisance to the. King, and throwing his [cap into the air, the handsome young espuda took his place in front of the bull—not.six yards off his terrible enemy, The sword was raised to his eye, and the measure taken with the aim, The red flag was waved to punt the angry beast, and twice or three .times . did he charge, to be baffled by a ,tum of the heel aa Salvador adroitly eluded |him. | And now the moment came for victory. The Vull had faced ,him. once again, and for the first timo I saw the athlete's handsome face'look up to pur box, and his flashing eyes meet Eva's. With the grace of a granHee ho kissed his swordhilt, and touched his heart with the hand that held the ?nukta, pnd a smile of coming triumph lit up hie face. The red flag raised the wild bull's anger,for the last;time; down went the. splendid head, and in went the sword, right pirough the spine,, Salvador'was so certain of his coupihui ho turned.his head to send a kiss with his fingers to tho .English angel,. The bull had just strength le.ft to rise on one > jtnee, and before he could escape the fearful spear-point of that'murderous horn it pierced, flie toreador's Heart I A.ghastly pallor, came over his features; he took, from., near .his heart the yellow rose' tie had picked, up the night before, Its yqllow petals, dripped with blpod-his heart's'■blood—arid, one ineffable look of love, he fell dead' by,the sido of th0M1.,.. . .". ; We wait fjor more;" Eya's lip tremble^,';though I heard'her iriutter—''Pool!" ''.' l was, very. much, disgusted .to see her the same, evening making eye's at a new attache, who, had just arrived from^arisi, She ha'd.quite forgotten Salvador I •. '' ..'. ■"-," ,'' ;'.'-. ..