A specimen of your abilities is
necessary to enlighten me. I have been on the stage myself; the comedy
of the Rivals is familiar to me from beginning to end. A sample is all
I want, if you have not forgotten the words--a sample of 'Lucy,' and a
sample of 'Julia.'"
"I have not forgotten the words," said Magdalen, sorrowfully; "and I
have the little books with me in which my dialogue was written out.
I have never parted with them; they remind me of a time--" Her lip
trembled, and a pang of the heart-ache silenced her.
"Nervous," remarked the captain, indulgently. "Not at all a bad sign.
The greatest actresses on the stage are nervous. Follow their example,
and get over it. Where are the parts? Oh, here they are! Very nicely
written, and remarkably clean. I'll give you the cues--it will all be
over (as the dentists say) in no time. Take the back drawing-room for
the stage, and take me for the audience. Tingle goes the bell; up runs
the curtain; order in the gallery, silence in the pit--enter Lucy!"
She tried hard to control herself; she forced back the sorrow--the
innocent, natural, human sorrow for the absent and the dead--pleading
hard with her for the tears that she refused.
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