‘Nothing.’
‘Of course, it is not her first appearance on the stage.’
‘I think not. She has had some years of practice in the provinces. If you are interested in the lady, come and sup with me to-night at the Harum-Scarum.’
‘What’s that?’
‘A club of night-birds, where the small critics compare their notes and pick each other’s brains for ideas. The strongest will and the loudest voice settle the matter, and what they say overnight is echoed in a dozen newspapers next morning.’
‘But what has that to do with Miss Vere?’ i Everything. You’ll hear all that is known concerning her, for the night-birds know everything, and—but the curtain’s going up. Of course you’ll come?’
‘Yes,’ said Sutherland; and the two men returned to their places in the auditorium.
The third act was a revelation and a surprise, even to those who believed most in the new actress. In the great scene with Pisanio, when, on her way to Milford Haven, Imogen learns for the first time her husband’s diabolical suspicions, the actress fairly took the house by storm, till, at the great speech ending:
Prithee dispatch.
The lamb entreats the butcher; where’s thy knife?