Mrs. Van Dam says I'll
make the sensation of the season! I'm going to the Opera!
When men came this morning with palms and flowers to decorate the house, I
ran off to the Park. I did almost run, really. There was a song at my
lips: "Gladdest, oh, gladdest, most beautiful in the world; blessed, most
blessed, most beautiful in the world!" and the "tap-tap" of horses' feet
on the asphalt, the "b-r-r-r-rp" of the cable cars and the rattle of
elevated trains kept time, until all the city seemed ringing with my joy.
I know it's foolish; if I had been beautiful from my childhood; if I could
have grown up to think of it as a matter of course; if I had been used to
the awe of men and women's envy, I might think less about it, might even
fancy that I would have preferred learning or wealth--for we all love what
we have not. But now--it is so new, so marvellous!
I had plenty of things to think about when I could calm myself. Only
yesterday I'd had a long talk with Prof. Darmstetter.
"The experiment is not yet complete," he declared. He had asked me to stay
for--but that is a part of the secret which is to pass with this record
from me to all women.
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