Hubert
trembled with fear and rage. Would these people never give their attention
to the stage? If they had been sitting by him, he could have struck them.
Then a line turned into nonsense by the actress who played Mrs. Holmes was
a lancinating pain; and the actor who played Captain Grey, played so slowly
that Hubert could hardly refrain from calling from his box. He looked round
the theatre, noticing the indifferent faces of the critics, and the women's
shoulders seemed to him especially vacuous and imbecile.
The principal scene of the second act was between Mrs. Holmes and the man
who had divorced her. He has-been driven to drink by the vile behaviour of
his second wife; he is ruined in health and in pocket, and has come to the
woman he wronged to beg forgiveness; he knows she has learnt to love
Captain Grey, but will not marry him, because she believes that once
married always married. There is only one thing he can do to repair the
wrong he has done--he will commit suicide, and so enable her to marry the
man she loves. He tells her that he has bought the pistol to do it with,
and the words, 'Not here! not here!' escape from her; and he answers, 'No,
not here, but in a cab. I've got one at the door.
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