EMMA AND ULPHO
A DRAMA IN FIVE ACTS
WRITTEN FOR EASTER, SANCTIONED BY THE LORD CHAMBERLAIN,
BUT REJECTED BY ALL THE THEATRES.
ACT I.
(A dark night. The curtain rises, and discovers nobody on the stage.)
(Ulpho speaks.) How dark it is.
(He is answered by a hollow voice which is inaudible.)
Ulpho. I do not feel comfortable, nor as I once did. (Sighs.)
(The stage gradually fills till Ulpho is forced forward to the footlights, which go out. The crowd parts asunder suddenly, and a figure comes slowly forward.)
Figure. (Says nothing.)
Ulpho. I feel chilly.
(Figure smiles contemptuously and puts his hands in his breeches’ pockets. He then addresses Ulpho silently, and, after hesitating more than once, breaks down at last altogether.)