The yellow book: an illustrated quarterly (9.1896)

Four Prose Fancies

By Richard Le Gallienne

I—The Answer of the Rose

The Sphinx and I sat in our little box at Romeo and Juliet. It
was the first time she had seen that fairy-tale of passion upon
the stage. I had seen it played once before—in Paradise. There-
fore, I rather trembled to see it again in an earthly play-house,
and as much as possible kept my eyes from the stage. All I
knew of the performance—but how much was that !—was two
lovely voices making love like angels ; and when there were no
words, the music told me what was going on. Love speaks so
many languages.

One might as well look. It was as clear as moonlight to the
tragic eye within the heart. The Sphinx was gazing on it all
with those eyes that will never grow old, neither for years nor
tears ; but though I seemed to be seeing nothing but an adver-
tisement of Paderewski pianos on the programme, I saw it—O
didn’t I see it ?—all. The house had grown dark, and the music
low and passionate, and for a moment no one was speaking.
Only, deep in the thickets of my heart, there sang a tragic night-
ingale that, happily, only I could hear ; and I said to myself,
“ Now the young fool is climbing the orchard wall ! Yes, there

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