Chapter VI: Act II

The exterior of O’Heynes Castle. At the left a large square tower with its two roof gables facing right and left, and Irish battlements which carry two high chimneys, one at front and one at back of roof. On ground level at front is the pointed Gothic entrance-door, over which a square-headed window lights a room above, while on the side facing the right above a hall window, is another square-headed window belonging to the same upper room. Around great leafless ash trees grow upon the pale green grass. Some way off at the right is the cairn with the abbey ruins beyond; and stony mountain ranges, as in the first act, form a background to the whole scene.

It is a frosty night with a very bright moon.

FINOLA O’HEYNES, closely muffled, comes out through the door of the castle.

FIN. Maeve. Are you there, Maeve? (_Pause._) Maeve. (_Goes to the right and peers about_) I don’t see any sign of her. Oh dear, oh dear, I wonder does she intend to come back. (_With an anxious and undecided look_) I don’t know which way to search for her. Stop--I will try this path leading to the mountain.

[_Exit at back behind the Castle._

_MAEVE O’HEYNES, looking very pale and listless, enters from the right._

MA. (_gazing forlorn around the scene_). Oh, moon and mountain and ruin, give a voice to my infinite sadness! (_Pause._)

[_FINOLA O’HEYNES re-enters from behind the Castle._

FIN. O sister, you are here!

MA. (_slowly_). Yes.

FIN. Thank heaven, you have returned. (_She advances towards her._)

MA. I said I would return, Finola.

FIN. Oh, I was so frightened. Aren’t you perished without a cloak on, this bitter night?

MA. (_wearily_). Is it so cold?

FIN. (_surprised_). Cold? You must feel this biting frosty air?

MA. No--not particularly.

FIN. (_feeling the hands and face of MAEVE_). Why, Maeve, you are like ice.

MA. (_as if remembering_). Like ice. How beautiful to be like the ice!

FIN. Oh, come in, come in from the cold.

MA. No--let me wait here, in the moonlight.

FIN. Darling, you will get dreadfully ill--and on your wedding morning too.

MA. (_with a shudder_). What--it is not yet the day?

FIN. Midnight has just passed--yes, this is your wedding day.

MA. (_mournfully_). Oh, so soon--so soon.

FIN. Far better had it been sooner, my poor sister.

MA. Oh, don’t say that, Finola.

FIN. Yes, yes, this long delay since your engagement has brought the old trouble upon you again.

MA. (_with a scornful smile_). Do you think I was ever really reconciled to my fate?

FIN. And yet--and yet--you seemed happy for a while.

MA. No--never really. I was only talked into a false sort of happiness, Finola.

FIN. (_expostulating_). Oh, how can you say that?

MA. Yes, I deceived myself there among you. You all seemed so happy, and were so kind and indulgent to me, that I wished to believe this marriage was for the best.

FIN. And you never really believed it?

MA. Never--I was soon certain that I never did.

FIN. When was that?

MA. When he went to England to arrange with his lawyers, and this family happiness that encircled me gradually disappeared--

FIN. Do you think so? I am sure father and I have never changed.

MA. Perhaps not, but you understand, I was left more to myself and had time to think over what I had done. (_Despairingly_) Ah then I saw that I never could be reconciled to my fate.

FIN. Darling, you should not have encouraged such a thought. It will leave you, when you are married and away from here.

MA. Oh, the sacrifice--I make it for father’s sake.

FIN. Be sure your sacrifice for father’s sake will have its reward.

MA. It is a cruel sacrifice. And yet it must be--

FIN. Poor Hugh. At all events he is unchanged.

MA. I too am unchanged, Finola. Don’t you see it after what I have told you?

FIN. I suppose so. But have you always disliked him? You do not hate him?

MA. Oh, but if you were to see him, Finola, in the light he appears to me--

FIN. How does he appear to you, dear?

MA. (_with sudden vehemence_). A bandit--a plunderer!

FIN. Maeve, what are you saying?

MA. Yes, I say a bandit, like his English predecessors who ruined every beautiful thing we ever had.

FIN. (_frightened_). Sister, how can you accuse him of that?

MA. (_bitterly_). Yes, he has come finally to ruin every beautiful thing.

FIN. He, who is so generous? Why, instead of destroying, is he not restoring the dignity of our ancient Celtic house?

MA. (_scornfully_). Yes, I know what such restoration means. It is bought at too great a price, I can tell you. It is like that great restoration of a family’s pride by Strongbow, who first brought our humiliation upon us.

FIN. No--I cannot see the likeness, Maeve.

MA. Don’t you remember the conditions of the English noble whom the Irish king Diarmid called to his aid?

FIN. Was it not, if Strongbow regained for Diarmid his kingdom he was to marry the king’s daughter Eva?

MA. Yes, and then become heir to Diarmid.--He succeeded in regaining the kingdom and the conditions were fulfilled, weren’t they?

FIN. They were.

MA. And thus with the power that was given him he subdued and ruined the ancient splendour of Erin. The old, old story! Poor Eva, you were sacrificed--a sweet symbol of your country in her subjection.

FIN. That may be, but still I can’t understand in what way Hugh is to injure our country.

MA. By killing the last flame of her life.

FIN. The last flame of our country’s life? How is that?

MA. Yes, the last light of her life.

FIN. What is this last light?

MA. (_with a child’s smile and as if forgetful of all sorrows_). The fairy lamp of Celtic Beauty!

FIN. (_after a moment, in a very gentle voice_). Dearest, it is impossible he ever could do this thing.

MA. Is he not destroying my chosen way of life--that life which alone may keep the flame alight? Am I not the last?

FIN. The last? Why should you think that you are the last?

MA. Listen and I will tell you, Finola. You have heard Peg Inerny speak of her other life, and of having dwelt in the palace of Queen Maeve?

FIN. (_nervously_.) Yes, what of her?

MA. This very night after I had left her upon the mountain I thought I saw her beckoning to me in the abbey. I followed her while she went past the round tower to the cairn which now was glowing against a sky that had turned crimson. With a gesture the old woman seemed to open the cairn, and then stood transformed in a curious region of fresh green suffused with saffron light, so that I saw her tall, and beautiful, and marvellously pale of face, and crowned with a golden diadem not so golden as her hair. And I heard her say these words in ancient Gaelic:--“Last Princess of Erin, thou art a lonely dweller among strange peoples; but I the great Queen Maeve have watched thee from thy birth, for thou wert to be the vestal of our country’s last beauty. Behold whom thy love hath called to life. Mark him well, for already his hour of dissolution hath come.” And I looked and saw him who was beauty standing by the round tower. With a feeling of nothingness, I fell upon my knees and bent down to the earth. When I looked again he was not there. Then a company of ancient Celts bore a covered form upon their shoulders; while a choir of rose-crowned boys sang dirges with violet voices of frail, lace-like beauty. And they buried their dead one by the round tower, and over his grave they raised a great ogham stone. And again I heard the voice of the Queen:--“They have buried thy dead beauty, Princess. Thou hast killed him by deserting thy chosen way of life; for there are no more who live for beauty.” Then in my desolation I seemed to lose consciousness of all save these last words of the queen: “Yet, princess, I will come and comfort thee again to-night.” And with a start I discovered that I was sitting alone in the moonlight by the round tower. And I looked, and I could not find the great ogham stone that they had raised over my beloved.

FIN. And so you were only dreaming after all?

MA. Yes, it must have only been a dream--for my beloved is not dead.

FIN. Nor will Queen Maeve come to you again to-night.

MA. Do not be so sure of that, Finola.

FIN. (_in a frightened voice_). Oh heavens! there she is.

MA. (_starting_). Who?

FIN. Peg Inerny.

_PEG INERNY enters from the right._

PEG. My noble ladies.

FIN. (_angrily_). What do you want?

PEG. Oh, I never thought you could be so sharp, Lady Finola.

FIN. (_with the desperation of terror_). Go--you are here for no good purpose.

MA. (_deprecatingly_). Finola.

PEG (_to FINOLA_). Won’t you give me the liberty of a wild beast to walk about at night, my dear?

FIN. (_shrieking_). Go, I say, or I will let loose the dogs of the castle upon you.

MA. Finola, for goodness sake, what are you saying? What wrong has she ever done to any of us?

FIN. Oh yes, don’t I know her evil intentions towards you?

MA. I feel sure she has never done me harm.

PEG (_to MAEVE_). Sweet Princess, you’ll rejoice for the gentleness you have shown me.

FIN. (_to PEG INERNY_). I will call my father up if you don’t leave at once. Come, sister, come into the castle.

PEG. Good-night, sweet Maeve--sleep--sleep--and dream.

[_Exit at right._

MA. (_yearningly_). And dream--Oh that I could dream again to-night, that dream!

FIN. Don’t think of it any more, dearest. Come in to rest.

MA. No--let me stay a while longer here.

FIN. But you will be frozen, Maeve. I wonder you ever awoke again after falling asleep in the abbey.

MA. Let me stay, Finola, I do not feel the cold.

FIN. It is because you are already so cold.

MA. My love is so divinely cold.

FIN. Ah, that is a strange sort of love.

MA. (_wistfully_). He is the only one I have ever loved. Let me stay. I hear him coming.

FIN. (_frightened_). You hear him--?

MA. (_pointing towards the abbey_). Yes, there--far away--coming on the wings of the March wind. Don’t you hear?

FIN. I hear the bitter wind, Maeve, through our old ash trees.

MA. (_smiling in reverie_). The fairy March wind which races at twilight over our fields, turning them to that strange pale beauty, like the beauty of a fairy’s face.--Oh, it is fit that my beloved should ride on such a steed.

FIN. Dearest, you must go to rest. He will never come. He is dead.

MA. He is not dead. He will come. I know he will. But the way is long. A long--long way.

FIN. A long way, indeed, without beginning and without end.

MA. It began from the land of everlasting youth.

FIN. You have often told me of that land, Tir-nan-ogue, is it not?

MA. The Celtic dream-land of ideal beauty. There he lives in never-fading freshness of youth. (_With a steadfast visionary look_) I am haunted by a boyish face close hooded with short gold hair--and every movement of his slender faultless body goes straight to my heart like a fairy melody. Oh, he has a long way to journey:--for that land of beauty was never so far away as it is to-night.

FIN. (_sadly_). It never was nearer, my poor sister. Come, I will see you to your rest.

MA. I must rest alone, Finola. You must not follow me to my room.

FIN. Why not, dear?

MA. Oh, do not. Leave me to myself.

FIN. (_with a sigh_). Very well, if you wish it.

MA. (_going_). Good-night.

FIN. Good-night, dear.

MA. (_quickly turning and throwing her arms around FINOLA_). Good-night--good-bye--Oh my darling, good-bye.

FIN. (_consolingly_). My poor Maeve, it is not yet the time for parting.

MA. Who knows where I must go, when my beloved shall come.

[_Exit hurriedly by door leading into the Castle._

FIN. (_wonderingly_). What does she mean by those words? (_With a reassured air_) Oh, she is tired, poor sister. That is what it is. And I suppose her mind is confused with her imaginary difficulties. But all will come well in good time.

[_Exit by door leading into the Castle._ (_Pause._)

_MAEVE O’HEYNES appears at the window of the castle, above
the hall-window facing the right, and slowly opens the
casement._

MA. (_leaning out_). Oh, the beautiful frosty night! I cannot keep it from me. The greatest beauty like the old Greek sculpture is always cold! My Prince of the hoar dew! My golden love, let me see you once more in that aureole of crimson sky! (_With an infinite longing_) Oh that the beauty I saw in my dream could return to me now. (_With sudden terror_) But to-morrow, how shall I face the misery of to-morrow? Oh pity me, pity me--(_Calmer_) And yet I have always known that my beloved would deliver me from bondage. (_With a gradually weaker voice as she sinks upon a chair_) But I am weary of waiting--weary--weary--it is hard to resist the longing for sleep. (_She sighs as she reclines back out of sight in an angle of the window._) (_Pause._)

[_There is a soft music of harps, while the aurora borealis
arises and glows in the sky. Soon a ghostly procession
is seen to emerge like vapour from the neighbourhood of
the cairn. Presently as it advances it grows more
distinct and then is discovered to consist of QUEEN
MAEVE, tall, pale faced and fair haired, in a golden
crown and gold embroidered robes; of BOY PAGES in
garlanded tunics and wearing wreaths of roses upon their
heads; of ancient Irish harpers with their harps; of
chieftains and warriors in conical caps; of people,
etc._

_As they approach near to the castle, MAEVE O’HEYNES enters
from the door at its front, and stands looking on in
wonder. They halt; and the harpers cease playing on
their harps._

CHORUS OF BOY PAGES.

(_Singing in broad solemn unison._)

Every hill which is at this Oenach
Hath under it heroes and Queens,
And poets and distributors,
And fair fierce women.

(_The harpers recommence their music._)

MA. (_with a thrill of happiness_). Ah, that song of Dorban I know so well. And this is Queen Maeve again.

(_The harpers cease their music._)

CHORUS OF BOY PAGES.

Hast seen our warriors? In their hands are white shields
Ornamented with white silver signs--
They wield blue flaming swords
And carry red horns with metal mountings.

MA. (_listening_). Now they are chanting the lay of Fiachna son of Reta.

A BOY PAGE (_singing alone_).

Obedient to the settled order of the battle,
Preceding their prince of gracious mien
They march across blue lances
Those troops of white warriors with knotted hair.

CHORUS OF BOY PAGES.

They march across blue lances
Those troops of white warriors with knotted hair.

(_The harpers recommence their music._)

Q. MA. Princess I come, as I have promised.

MA. (_approaching and falling on her knees_). My Queen--Oh save me, my queen.

Q. MA. O last of my daughters in the land, what help can I give you?

MA. My beloved--where is he?

Q. MA. He is coming over the mountains. He is coming to you over the mountains.

MA. (_rising_). Yes, I knew he was coming on the fairy March wind.

Q. MA. Your love is so great that you divine his coming? and yet you can suffer bondage?

MA. How shall I escape the stranger’s bondage?

Q. MA. I will take you to the land of joy.

MA. To Tir-nan-ogue?--O Queen, do you rule in Tir-nan-ogue?

Q. MA. The empire of the Gael is in Tir-nan-ogue. There during life he is at peace in the building of beauty from the past.

MA. And so the land you reign in is the home of living men.

Q. MA. Each man who comes to his ideal has come to Tir-nan-ogue.

MA. And thus we see you so young and so beautiful after all those two thousand years!

Q. MA. Your fame also shall remain beautiful and young.

MA. Of what kind is the happiness that makes Tir-nan-ogue happy?

Q. MA. Happiness in the present as sweet as the remembrance of happiness.

MA. Then shall my happiness be great indeed.

Q. MA. You remember much happiness?

MA. I remember beauty.

Q. MA. Those who love beauty shall see beauty.

MA. The immortal beauty of form!

Q. MA. Form that will awaken genius!

MA. Form is my beauty and my love!

(_The harpers cease their music._)

CHORUS OF BOY PAGES.

Their strength, great as it is, can not be less,
They are sons of queens and kings,
On the heads of all a comely
Growth of hair yellow like gold.

A BOY PAGE.

Their bodies are graceful and majestic,
Their eyes with a look of power have the eye-ball blue.
Their teeth are brilliant like glass,
Their lips are red and thin.

CHORUS OF BOY PAGES.

Their bodies are graceful and majestic,
These sons of queens and kings.

(_The harpers recommence their music._)

MA. So Fiachna is made to sing when the poet tells how the hero came from the land of the gods. I love that poem!

Q. MA. I have all the poems--the greatest those that are lost. Come into my land; and they that made them shall sing them, and their music shall turn all things to beauty.

MA. Queen, I have seen that land afar.

Q. MA. You also have seen Tir-nan-ogue?

MA. In my dreams, in my day-dreams.

Q. MA. Daughter, it is passing sweet when our day-dreams come true.

MA. Oh let me see the beloved of my day-dreams.

Q. MA. Your Prince of the hoar dew, when he comes, will give you rest.

MA. Rest without pain or fear of bondage?

Q. MA. Rest in beauty--a beauty which is transcendently cold.

MA. Oh let me see that beauty. I have sought it in vain on earth.

Q. MA. He is coming, he is coming over the mountains. You shall speak to him when he is come.

MA. (_with a sudden disconsolate look_). I will never speak to him.

Q. MA. Why, wayward child?

MA. Queen, I cannot. The sight of such beauty will make me speechless.

Q. MA. Then shall you find peace in his beauty.

MA. But oh, my queen, let me see him.

Q. MA. You shall see him in the Northern lights of Tir-nan-ogue.

MA. And his beauty shall be my joy in an ideal land.

Q. MA. Beauty in the midst of all beautiful things.

MA. Oh take me to that land.

Q. MA. I am waiting for you, poor weary child.

MA. The land where my day-dreams will come true!

Q. MA. See, the Northern lights are passing before the dawn. We must not tarry.

MA. I am ready, my beautiful queen.

Q. MA. Then come with the Northern lights, beautiful ice maiden!

MA. I shall see my beauty--my love--!

(_Half swooning she falls on the neck of QUEEN MAEVE._)

(_The harpers cease their music._)

CHORUS OF BOY PAGES.

Noble and melodious music thou dost hear;
Thou goest from kingdom to kingdom
Drinking from goblets of massy gold,
Thou wilt discourse with thy beloved.

A BOY PAGE.

We have carried from the plain Mag Mell
Thirty caldrons, thirty horns for drinking
We have carried from it the lamentation sung by Mear,
Daughter of Eochaid the Dumb.

(_The harpers re-commence their music._)

CHORUS OF BOY PAGES.

What a marvel in Tir-nan-ogue
That mead should fall with each shower,
Drinking from goblets of massy gold,
Thou wilt discourse with thy beloved.

[_During this song all, including MAEVE O’HEYNES, have
gradually moved off towards the cairn and faded away
with the aurora borealis, so that, when the music
ceases, no trace of them remains. A faint grey light of
dawn now prevails; and then the whole scene, at the
approach of sunrise, is discovered to be completely
white with a thick coating of hoar frost._

_After a while HUGH FITZ WALTER, muffled and carrying a large bunch of
flowers, enters from the left._

HUGH. I can wait no longer. I must come to her castle with the first light. How fine it looks decked out with the hoar frost! Oh, I hope she is safe and well; let these be my morning offering before she awakes. (_He lays the flowers by the doorway of the castle._)

_The O’HEYNES, also muffled, enters from the left._

THE O’H. (_looking in the direction of HUGH_). Ah! you too, are out early this morning.

HUGH. Yes. Somehow I felt I had to come.

THE O’H. What a blessing you are here at last, Hugh. (_He grasps him by the hand._)

HUGH. I wish I could have returned sooner.

THE O’H. I wish you could have. Well, let that be.

HUGH. But why are you also about at this hour of the morning? I did not expect to see any one stirring.

THE O’H. (_peevishly_). I could not sleep these hours past with thinking and thinking. Then something made me get up, and see what would happen.

HUGH. (_anxiously_). What would happen? Heavens! what do you expect to happen?

THE O’H. Oh nothing, nothing, I suppose. Only my mind will not let me rest.

HUGH. Do you know I too was very uneasy about things last night.

THE O’H. (_suspiciously_). You, why? What reason could you have had?

HUGH. (_with rather a forced laugh_). Oh, none of course. How could I?

THE O’H. Of course not--of course not. But come in to the fire, Hugh, and warm yourself. There has been a great frost last night.

HUGH. Yes, the whole country is white, as if it were covered with snow.

THE O’H. A March frost soon melts before the sun. See, it is already rising. The day is going to be a glorious one.

HUGH. There is an old saying--“Happy is the bride the sun shines on.”

_As they go towards the door of the castle, FINOLA O’HEYNES enters
from it._

FIN. Oh, what lovely flowers!

HUGH. I brought them for Maeve. She is not yet awake?

FIN. No. I gave orders she was not to be disturbed. It was very late last night when she went to rest; and she seemed so tired.

HUGH. Then I would not have her disturbed for worlds. Will you bring her these flowers, Finola, when she awakes?

_PEG INERNY enters from the right._

PEG. When she awakes--? Ah,--my Princess Maeve--do you think she will care for such flowers now?

HUGH (_in a subdued voice_). Why not? Why do you say she would not?

PEG. Oh, it’s a cold morning, a cruel cold morning.

FIN. Go away from this place.--Let me never see you again.

PEG. I have never before been refused the shelter of O’Heynes Castle.

HUGH. O’Heynes Castle is never the better for your presence. I understand you are always importuning Miss O’Heynes.

THE O’H. Come, we must not be hard to the old woman on such a day as this. Go round to the kitchen, Peg, and get something to eat.

PEG. Yes, some food. I want some food and warmth, Prince--I have been out all night, and I am famished.

THE O’H. Well, then, get all you wish. The Castle hall is open to everyone in honour of my daughter’s wedding to-day.

HUGH. Yes, we must try to make everyone happy to-day--even this wicked old woman.

PEG (_with a sinister look_). I suppose you also, my brave Englishman, think you ought to be happy.

HUGH. Why--of course. Don’t you know I am to be married to-day?

PEG (_almost contemptuously_). You married to the Princess Maeve?

HUGH (_bridling up_). Yes.

PEG (_mockingly_). Well, well, how queer that you should think so!

FIN. (_with a scared expression_). There is misfortune in those words.

THE O’H. Peg Inerny, you are awakening my forebodings again.

PEG (_humbly_). Oh, Prince, I can’t say otherwise.

HUGH (_indignantly_). What old woman’s talk is this?

PEG (_with a quiet prophetic triumph_). You think I am only an old woman; but I tell you that Erin can never be subdued.

HUGH. I should like to know what that has to do with the matter?

PEG (_smiling insidiously_). Perhaps the Englishman may think that he already holds her? Ah, she will slip like a fairy from his grasp. (_She laughs low and sardonically._)

FIN. (_excitedly to PEG INERNY_). Leave the place at once, you wicked woman. Oh, drive her away, Hugh, before she says any more.

HUGH (_advances to PEG INERNY, who draws herself up defiantly. He then steps back, saying, with a forced laugh_) What do I care for her. I shall soon be married and far away!

PEG. Take care, my fine Englishman, if your Irish Princess hasn’t already slipped from you like a fairy.

THE O’H. (_nervously_). What do you mean, Peg Inerny?

PEG. Oh, my Prince, just before dawn upon the mountains--I saw her.

HUGH (_with a look of terror_). You saw her?

PEG (_with a smile of ecstacy_). Yes, I saw my Princess Maeve!

HUGH (_turning perplexed to THE O’HEYNES and to FINOLA_). But--but didn’t you say she was there in the castle?

THE O’H. (_with a helpless look_). I thought so. I am sure I thought so. Didn’t you say she was here, Finola?

FIN. (_in a hollow voice_). Yes, father. (_As if petrified she now slowly retreats towards the castle door, keeping her eyes always fixed on PEG INERNY._)

HUGH. Oh that Maeve should be wandering over the mountains on such a night as this.

THE O’H. (_confusedly_). I knew some misfortune was coming. What has happened?

PEG (_with increasing ecstacy_). If you had only seen her, as I saw her upon the mountain--she was so beautiful--so happy. You would have died at the sight of such beauty, my Englishman.

HUGH (_with a look of bitterness and despair_). As if I required to be persuaded of her beauty!

PEG (_quietly_). And you will never see it again.

[_Exit FINOLA O’HEYNES by door leading into the castle._

HUGH (_suddenly subdued_). Never again--why never again?

PEG. It has gone to where he is.

HUGH (_wildly_). He--he--who is he? Speak at once. Don’t you see you torture me?

PEG. The beauty that she loves.

HUGH (_growing quieter_). Ah, I understand--only that.

PEG (_calmly triumphant and ecstatic_). Like the glory of the Northern lights was his face upon the mountains. And when she saw him, her own face shone like a star.

HUGH (_as if transfixed_). Oh what does all this mean? (_Recovering himself_) Ha--ha--it is nothing. Of course you are only raving. That’s what it is. Anyone can see that.

THE O’H. (_with an agonised look_). She has given utterance to my worst forebodings. Tell what you saw next, Peg Inerny.

PEG. The dawn came then; and Princess Maeve went out from my sight with the stars!

(_Short pause._)

(_Cries of “help” are heard within the Castle. Then FINOLA
O’HEYNES, with a scared face, appears at the window over
the entrance door, and throws the casement open
violently_).

FIN. (_wailing_). Oh heavens, oh, my heavens--oh--(_looks across the room towards the window facing the abbey at right, and after a moment’s awful silence says in a voice of terror_)--Maeve--she is sitting there at the open window--dead.

THE END.

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HENRIK IBSEN

“Love’s Comedy” (_Kjærlighedens Komedie_).--Prof. C. H. HERFORD.

VILLIERS DE L’ISLE ADAM

“La Révolte.” }
}--THERESA BARCLAY.
“L’Evasion.” }

SERGIUS STEPNIAK

“The Convert.”--CONSTANCE GARNETT.

AUGUST STRINDBERG

“The Father” (_Fadren_).--N. ERICHSEN.

BRIEUX

“Les Bienfaiteurs.”--LUCAS MALET.

HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ

“On a Single Card.”--E. L. VOYNICH.

Arrangements are also in progress with representative dramatists of Germany, Spain, Italy, and other countries. Further translations have been promised by Dr GARNETT, Messrs WALTER LEAF, JUSTIN HUNTLY MACCARTHY, G. A. GREENE, &c.

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Transcriber’s Notes

This file uses _underscores_ to indicate italic text. Upright small capitals, used for character names in stage directions, are indicated with UPPERCASE text. New original cover art included with this ebook is granted to the public domain.

The following changes and corrections have been made:

• p. viii: Replaced “Independent Théâtre” with “Independent Theatre” and “Theatre Libre” with “Théâtre Libre.” • p. 24: Replaced “Lorlie” with “Lorlei” in preface to match occurrences in play. • p. 26: Replaced “one” with “our” in phrase “we are on the eve of seeing our income doubled.” • p. 29: Added small caps to “Miles” in stage direction “He hides his face on MILES’ shoulder.” • p. 29: Formatted phrase “Grace is silent” as stage direction. • p. 87: Removed parentheses from second and third paragraphs of scene description. • p. 121: Replaced “hi” with “his” in phrase “Your love is so great that you divine his coming.” • p. 127: Replaced “daughters’” with “daughter’s” in phrase “in honour of my daughter’s wedding.”