_ Of course the acting _is_ abominable--but they might make
allowances for _that_. It _is_ so unfair! [_The Play proceeds. The
Heroine's jealousy has been excited by the Villain, for vague purposes
of his own, and the Hero is trying to disarm her suspicions._ _She._
"But why are you constantly going from Paris to London at the beck
and call of that man?" _He_ (_aside_). "If she only knew that I do it
to shield my second cousin, JASPER--but my oath!--I cannot tell her!
(_To her._) The reason is very simple, darling--he is my Private
Secretary!" (_Roars of inextinguishable laughter, drowning the Wife's
expressions of perfect satisfaction and confidence. The Hero wants to
go out; the Wife begs him to stay; she has 'a presentiment of evil--a
dread of something unseen, unknown.' He goes: the Villain enters in
evening dress._) _Villain._ "Your husband is false to you. Meet me
in half an hour at the lonely hut by the cross-roads, and you shall
have proof of his guilt." (_The Wife departs at once, just as she is.
Villain, soliloquising._) "So--my diabolical schemes prosper.
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