Mera Darvel is singing in the apartment of her invalid mother, whose illness has forced Mera to abandon the stage as her profession. In the same house is staying James Lathrop, a Naval Lieutenant, and a devotee of music. Through t...

The Union Eternal

Mera Darvel is singing in the apartment of her invalid mother, whose illness has forced Mera to abandon the stage as her profession. In the same house is staying James Lathrop, a Naval Lieutenant, and a devotee of music. Through the window he hears the singing. He is charmed. Inspired, he composed a melody which he sends to Mera. Mera sings this love song, and so delightfully that the interest of Lathrop blossoms into a stronger feeling. He writes to her, saying that her tender voice, ringing divinely in the solitude of his heart, makes him feel that he is beginning to live. They meet. The wooing goes on. But in the midst of their happiness he is ordered to report for duty at once. After a three-years' cruise Lathrop returns on leave of absence. The humble singer is now a great opera singer. He engages a box at the opera house where she is to sing the title role in "Carmen." He writes to her, reminding her of their former acquaintance, and asks that should she still care to know him that she wear the flowers he is sending her. She is pleased to hear from him, and replies that she will be glad to have him call upon her, and that she will sing to him his song. Lathrop goes to the opera. The singer wears the flowers. It is a signal of happiness. The wooing is renewed. Admiral Lathrop hears of his son's love for the opera singer. The admiral had high ambitions for his son and considered it a misalliance to have him wed a stage woman. The admiral hurries to Paris and commands the lieutenant to stop "this foolishness." The lieutenant demands the right to be happy. He declares Mera to be worthy of bearing the Lathrop name, and begs that his father sanction the match. The father, alarmed, decides that the best thing to do is to get him away from the singer. He arranges that the lieutenant be at once recalled to his duties and sent away on a long cruise. In the meantime Lieutenant Lathrop and Mera have married clandestinely. They are spending their honeymoon at Biarritz, when he receives the order commanding him to report at once for duty. He writes his resignation. Mera will not hear of it. She persuades him to respond to the call, although to her it means sadness. Mera, for consolation, plunges herself into her art. Onward and upward she climbs and greater grows her fame. Gounod's "Sapho" is the event of the operatic season. Mera sings the title role. It brings to her another triumph. As she goes to her dressing room she is deluged with flowers. At this moment there comes from her husband a telegram, wishing her happiness on the night of her success. As she is reading this and longing that she might feel his dear arms around her and the warmth of his dear lips, she hears on the street newsboys calling the tidings of a marine disaster. Intuition tells her that it might be her beloved who has died. Quickly she sends for a paper. Glaring headlines whose black type leap at her, tell of the sinking of the government submarine boat, commanded by Lieutenant Lathrop. Through her sorrow-stricken mind there surges thoughts of the past, and, like the Sapho of old, she fled. Into the dimness of the night she wanders, her harp in her hand, and unconsciously holding the trophy blooms. She wanders on and on until she comes to the waters which kiss the cold rocks in a sinister way. Higher and higher rises the tide as she sits on the clammy stones and raises her voice in song of sorrow. Up and up creeps the sullen flood until its chill had frozen in her blood the life desire.

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The Union Eternal

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