Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-31

cessation OF talk. He sizes up" Lerode
Instantly. and asks him for private inter
view on the morrow. When the others are
gone be pleads fer his wife's love. He has
been too busy amassing his millions, but
Is pulling on oft his trusts. even at
moment when there is great night on, that
ne may devote himself TO the little woman
he las never ceased to care for. Too late
she saws. He has sacrificed her love, and
must begin all over again. Also there isn't
room for him In her new fiat, and he must
spend the night at his hotel. Even the
touch of his hand ON her arm is evidently
repulsve to her.
In the next act GIayde is at his hotel, torn
Between his domestic difficulties and the
cables apprising him of rivals raid on
his stocks. He takes on both-dlctatinS
cable messages. interviewing guests OF the
las, nights dinner party and quietly PICK
ing up from them such information as ne
needs concerning Lerode, and dealing Win
his London agents over the long -oistanee
telephone. When Lerode arrives, Glayde
il ready for him. The portrait OF MRS
Glayde must remain unfinished, Lerode
must undertake never to see her again
The artist revolts. He will see Mrs. Glayde
rs often as he likes until she herself asks
him to stop calling. Glayde is called away
for a few moments to the Paris London
telephone. and bids the artist think II over
while he Is gone.
And here the audience is taken by sur
prise. We had supposed Mrs. Glayde's al
fair was little filtration. But she mas
been lurking In an adjoining room. and
when Glayde leaves she flies to Lerode $
arms. She bids him lie to her husband and
promise that he will never see her again;
otherwise she Is certain Glayde will kill
him. They will fly together that very
night to the little French town they have
secretly visited often before. 1t goes
against the grain for Lerode to agree to
this lie. but he yields for the woman's sake.
AS she starts back to the door through
which she has come, an arm appears and
the door is softly closed from the other
do Ia
arm was it? Glayde's? The woman tiptoes
over and peers through. No one is visible
and she goes out as her husband comes in
through another door. The audience is
as much in doubt as the guilty pair, and
We all watch Glayde breathlessly. But he
goes more calmly from where he left
Off He suspects nothing Lerode swallows
hard. tells his lie and departs. Mrs. Glayde
comes in and expresses surprise to hear
that LerOde has been there. She laughs at
her husbands suspicious. When she has
gone Glaydes old servant brings a card
for Mrs. Glayde. He says, unwilling of the
import of his words, that he didn't give it
To her before because she was talking with
Mr.. LerOde. and apparently didn't wish to
BE disturbed so he had closed the door and
withdrawn till she should he at liberty. 1t
IS obvious to Glayde that his wife and
LerOde have lied TO him. AS the act
closes he turns resolutely to his cables but
the words fail and the curtain falls on a
man tortured to the limit of endurance.
In act III NIldSue mas puleu nliflSelI TO-
gether and confrOnts his wife in her fiat
as she is packing for the elOpment She
Is defiant; yes. she lied to him; 1t was TO
save Lerode. Glayde is so quiet and grim
that she becomes terrified. She is con-
WINGED that he means to kill her lover She
throws her arms around her husband 5
neck. beGS his forgiveness, promises never
to see the artist again. says she loves her
husband, and will start on the morrow on a
new honeymoon with him. Glayde believes
her-and so does the audience. We are
apparently to have a commonplace recon-
Citation, and everybody is to be happy ever
after Mrs. Glayde has excused herself to
make a promised call. and Glayde in his
new felicity makes all sorts of delightful
new resolutions TO the end that his wife
shall be happy. His private secretary
PUSHES in-he has seen Mrs. Glayde drive
straight for Lerodes studio. and has
learned that they are going TO elope in
stantly.
Mr.. Sutro has prepared for the last great
five minutes of the play in Lerode'S studio
with much adrUtneSs. The artist is pack
ing for the flight, and already beginning to
half regret the pictures and the life he is
10 leave behind. a cynical friend tells him
of the time when he, too, eloped with
another mans wife. She had spent half
the time asking If he still loved her and
the other half in crying for the other fell
low, until the poor man in despair had sent
the husband anonymous telegram de-
scribing their whereabouts. Mrs Glayde
arrives, white, worn, sickened by the
m"nstrous deception she had practiced on
her husband. The pair are ready for their
flight. and Lerode is absent for moment
when Glayde arrives. He sternly COM
mands his wife to go home. She refuses
He may kill her: he may kill Lerode; he
may do what he likes now, but she will not
turn back. Then Lerode comes He
glanCes at the foils the wall, and is
ready for the fight Come here COM
mands Glayde. and then continues in a
dead calm voice: This woman loves you
She used to be my wife. She loves you be-
yond everything else-honesty. truth. shame
She has made the greatest of all sacrifices
for you-she has lied and betrayed. Take
her away. Take her and help her-to lie
and betray more
1t comes so suddenly and the final cur
tain descends so quickly that it needs a
second thought to appreciate the tragedy
In the faces of the guilty pair as they
stare, appalled,. while the husband walks
quietly out. The utter scorn of his words
voice and manner has withered their love
turned their romance to bitterness. His
strange revenge makes the auditor almost
sorry for those two haggard beings stand
Ing there, afraid 10 face each other and
the future.