one of the characters to take the audience into his confidence. "Having
disposed of my uncle's body," he would say to the stout lady in the third
row of the stalls, "I now have leisure in which to search for the will.
But first to lock the door lest I should be interrupted by Harold
Wotnott." In the modern well-constructed play he simply rings up an
imaginary confederate and tells him what he is going to do. Could
anything be more natural?

Let us, to give an example of how this method works, go back again to the
play we have been discussing.

_Enter_ Hamlet. _He walks quickly across the room to the telephone, and
takes up the receiver impatiently._

_Ham_. Hallo! Hallo! I want double-nine--hal-_lo_! I want double-nine
two--hal-_lo_! Double-nine two three, Elsinore.... Double-_nine_,
yes.... Hallo, is that you, Horatio? Hamlet speaking. I say, I've been
wondering about this business. To be or not to be, that is the question;
whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows--What?
No, Hamlet speaking. _What_? Aren't you Horatio? I want double-nine two
three--sorry.... Is that you, Exchange? You gave me double-_five_, I
want double-_nine_.... Hallo, is that you, Horatio? Hamlet speaking.
I've been wondering about this business. To be or not to be, that is
the--What? No, I said, To _be_ or _not_ to be.... No, "be"--b-e. Yes,
that's right. To be or not to be, that is the question; whether 'tis
nobler--

And so on. You see how effective it is.

But there is still another way of avoiding the soliloquy, which is