Berenice

AUTHOR OF “THE LOST AMBASSADOR,” “THE MISSIONER,” “THE ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE,” ETC.
Copyright, 1907, 1911, By Little, Brown, and Company. All rights reserved Published, January, 1911 Second Printing Printers S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U. S. A.


You may not care for the play,” Ellison said eagerly. “You are of the old world, and Isteinism to you will simply spell chaos and vulgarity. But the woman! well, you will see her! I don’t want to prejudice you by praises which you would certainly think extravagant! I will say nothing.”
Matravers smiled gravely as he took his seat in the box and looked out with some wonder at the ill-lit, half-empty theatre.
“I am afraid,” he said, “that I am very much out of place here, yet do not imagine that I bring with me any personal bias whatever. I know nothing of the play, and Isteinism is merely a phrase to me. To-night I have no individuality. I am a critic.”
“So much depends,” Ellison remarked, “upon the point of view. I am afraid that you are the last man in the world to have any sympathy with the decadent.”
“I do not properly understand the use of the word ‘decadent,’” Matravers said. “But you need not be alarmed as to my attitude. Whatever my own gods may be, I am no slave to them. Isteinism has its devotees, and whatever has had humanity and force enough in it to attract a following must at least demand a respectful attention from the Press. And to-night I am the Press!”
“I am sorry,” Ellison remarked, glancing out into the gloomy well of the theatre with an impatient frown, “that there is so bad a house to-night. It is depressing to play seriously to a handful of people!”
“It will not affect my judgment,” Matravers said.
“It will affect her acting, though,” Ellison replied gloomily. “There are times when, even to us who know her strength, and are partial to her, she appears to act with difficulty,—to be encumbered with all the diffidence of the amateur. For a whole scene she will be little better than a stick. The change, when it comes, is like a sudden fire from Heaven. Something flashes into her face, she becomes inspired, she holds us breathless, hanging upon every word; it is then one realizes that she is a genius.”