(Thaddeus obeys. The Northerner turns to Mary. She gazes at him, but does not understand a word he says.)
Northerner. (With great fervor.) I’m ashamed of what I said. The whole country will hear of this, and you.
(Takes her hand, and presses it to his lips; then turns and hurries out of the house. Mary still holds the gun in her hand. She pushes a strand of gray hair back from her face, and begins to pick up the fragments of the broken coffee cup.)
Mary. (In dead, flat tone.) I’ll have to drink out the tin cup now.
(The hoof-beats of the Northerner’s horse are heard.)
Curtain.[49]
Note the wholly unexpected turn after the final speech of the Northerner. Yet this surprise merely rounds out the characterization of Mary.
This kind of climax by surprise recalls one of the principles in acting which Joseph Jefferson laid down for himself: “Never anticipate a strong effect; in fact, lead your audience by your manner, so that they shall scarcely suspect the character capable of such emotion; then when some sudden blow has fallen, the terrible shock prepares the audience for a new and striking phase in the character; they feel that under these new conditions you would naturally exhibit the passion which till then was not suspected.”[50]
Before the present insistence on reality held sway, it was possible to close a play of pretended truth to life with a tag. Here is the quiet ending of Still Waters Run Deep (1855):
Potter. My dear boy, you astonish me! But, however, there’s an old proverb that says that “All is not gold that glitters.”