Where is the first scene laid?
Who, in the first scene, reveals most of the situation to the reader?
Page 187 contains an important clue to the subsequent action. What is it?
What is the purpose of the next fully developed scene (in Mrs. Kaufman’s apartment)?
What is the purpose of the continuation of the scene (after Vetsy’s exit, page 194)? Does the division into two parts (before and after the women retired) contribute to more than an impression of reality?
Study the transition between the night scene and eleven o’clock the next morning. What value has the paragraph (page 205) beginning “At eleven”?
How does the author effect the return of Vetsburg and Mrs. Kaufman to the apartment? How is Ruby disposed of? (See page 107, “Down by Gimp’s I sent her,” etc.).
Miss Hurst is an expert scene-developer. Her setting is clear; her characters move as they move in real life; the action is in the right tempo for the conditions and the time at hand; no scene exists without a definite purpose. It is the fine scene-work which gives to her stories a dramatic quality equalled only by that of the stage.
Compare the scene-work of this story with that of “T. B.” and of “Get Ready the Wreaths.”
Has the Easter season a contributory significance?