newly-betrothed pair into the distant ballroom, Mrs. Stuart leant
backward over her chair and said to Kendal:

'Now then, Mr. Kendal, prepare your criticisms! In the scene which is
just coming Miss Bretherton has a good deal more to do than to look
pretty!'

'Oh, but you forget our compact!' said Kendal. 'Remember you are to be
the judge of our behaviour at the end. It is not the part of a judge to
tempt those on whom he is to deliver judgment to crime.'

'Don't put too much violence on yourselves!' said Mrs. Stuart, laughing.
'You and Edward can have the back of the box to talk what heresy you like
in, so long as you let Mr. Forbes perform his devotions undisturbed.'

At this Forbes half turned round, and shook his great mane, under which
gleamed a countenance of comedy menace, at the two men behind him. But in
another instant the tones of Isabel Bretherton's voice riveted his
attention, and the eyes of all those in the box were once more turned
towards the stage.

The scene which followed was one of the most meritorious passages in the
rather heavy German play from which the _White Lady_ had been adapted. It
was intended to show the romantic and passionate character of the
Countess, and to suggest that vein of extravagance and daring in her
which was the explanation of the subsequent acts. In the original the
dialogue had a certain German force and intensity, which lost nothing of
its occasional heaviness in the mouth of Hawes, the large-boned
swaggering personage who played the Prince. An actress with sufficient
force of feeling, and an artistic sense subtle enough to suggest to her