The success of the play was brief. But before it was withdrawn, Hubert had
sold the American rights for a handsome sum, and within the next two years
he had completed a second play, which he called _An Ebbing Tide_. Some of
the critics argued that it contained scenes as fine as any in _Divorce_,
but it was admitted on all sides that the interest withered in the later
acts. But the failure of the play did not shake the established belief in
Hubert's genius; it merely concentrated the admiration of those interested
in the new art upon _Divorce_, the partial failure of which was now
attributed to the acting. If it had only been played at the Haymarket or
the Lyceum, it could not have failed.

The next three years Hubert wasted in various aestheticisms. He explained
the difference between the romantic and realistic methods in the reviews;
he played with a poetic drama to be called _The King of the Beggars_, and
it was not until the close of the third year that he settled down to
definite work. Then all his energies were concentrated on a new play--_The
Gipsy_. A young woman of Bohemian origin is suddenly taken with the
nostalgia of the tent, and leaves her husband and her home to wander with
those of her race. He had read portions of this play to his friends, who at
last succeeded in driving Montague Ford, the popular actor-manager, to
Hubert's door; and after hearing some few scenes he had offered a couple of
hundred pounds in advance of fees for the completed manuscript. 'But when
can I have the manuscript?' said Ford, as he was about to leave. 'As soon
as I can finish it,' Hubert replied, looking at him wistfully out of pale
blue-grey eyes. 'I could finish it in a month, if I could count on not
being worried by duns or disturbed by friends during that time.'

Ford looked at Hubert questioningly; then he said 'I have always noticed
that when a fellow wants to finish a play, the only way to do it is to go