and--I didn't tell you _this_--they'd a kind of old easy chair in the
room--and the only remark _I_ made, not meaning anythink, was--(_Hero
on Stage_. "You infernal, black-hearted scoundrel! this is _your_
work, is it?") Well, I couldn't ha' put it more pleasant than that,
_could_ I? and old Mr. FITKIN, as was settin' on it, he says to me, he
says--(_Hero_. "Courage, my darling! You shall not perish if my strong
arms can save you. Heaven help me to rescue the woman I love better
than my life!") but he's 'alf silly, so I took no partickler notice of
_'im_, when, what did that woman do, after stoopin' to me, as she
'as, times without number--but--Oh, is the play over? Well, as I was
saying--oh, _I'm_ ready to go if you are, and I can tell you the rest
walking home.

[_Exit, having thoroughly enjoyed her evening._

* * * * *

TO ROSE NORREYS AS "NORA."

Dear ROSE, in your way, you're as brimful of Art
As a picture by REYNOLDS, a statue by GIBSON;
And we'll never cut _you_, though we don't like your part,
Pretty ROSE, in _A Doll's House_, as written by IBSEN,
Yet we crowd on your track, as the hounds on the quarry's,
And, though carping at _Nora_, delight in our NORREYS.

* * * * *

[Illustration: TROUBLE IN TOM TIDDLER'S GROUND.