And high-walled Joppa, and Anthedon, (As he moves up.)
And Gaza unto these, and Straton’s towers![54]
The perfect climax lies in the irony of the fact that all Herod most desires as ruler comes to him at just the moment when he has killed the thing that most he loved.
At the end of Act III of Chains, by Elizabeth Baker, everybody—the father-in-law and mother-in-law, Percy, the brother-in-law, and Sybil, a pretty but useless bit of femininity—has been making Charlie entirely miserable because no one can understand that his expressed desire to try his fortunes in Australia and then send for his wife, Lily, is not a pretext for abandoning her. Percy, with next to nothing a year, is just engaged to Sybil. Foster wants to marry Margaret, Charlie’s sister-in-law, who is dissatisfied with her lot.
Enter Lily, dressed for going out, also Mrs. Massey. Lily goes round, kissing and shaking hands, with a watery smile and a forced tearful cheerfulness.
Charley. (Without going all around and calling from the door.) Good night, all!
(Exeunt Lily and Charley.)
Mrs. Massey. Well, I must say—
Percy. O, let’s drop it, mother. Play something, Maggie.
Maggie. I don’t want to.