"And what happens then?"

"The lovers both die. They do not find out how much they love each other
until it is too late for them to be united, so Stephen kills Amanda and
then kills himself."

"How terribly sad. But wasn't there any other way? Why couldn't you have
made them happy?"

"Then it wouldn't have been a tragedy."

"Perhaps not. But what prevented them marrying?"

"Amanda, not knowing Stephen loved her, had married another man whom she
didn't care for."

"I see. There was a husband in the way. Still it would have been wiser
for her to have left him and run away with Stephen. It certainly would
have been more in the mode."

"Not on the stage. People like to see a play that makes them cry. How
they weep over the sorrows of Almeria in Mr. Congreve's 'Mourning
Bride!'"

"Yes, so I've heard. I've never seen the play. The title frightens me. I
don't like the notion of a mourning bride."

"Not in real life I grant you. But on the stage it's different. I'm
sorry you don't care for my tragedy," he went on disappointedly.