"As I said----" At this, a blind rage takes possession of Don Jose. All his good purposes are forgotten. For a moment he still pleads with her to go away, and she taunts him more cruelly. Then in a flash Jose's knife is drawn, another flash and Carmen's fortune is verified: she falls dead at the entrance to the amphitheatre, just as the crowd is coming out, cheering the victorious Escamillo. Jose falls beside her, nearly mad with grief for what he has done in a fit of rage, while Escamillo comes out, already fascinated by some other girl, and caring little that Carmen is dead--except that the body is in the way. Jose is under arrest, Carmen dead, and the great crowd passes on, cheering: "Escamillo, Escamillo forever!" DEKOVEN Smith and DeKoven, who have made countless thousands laugh, are living still, and will very likely continue to do gracious things for the comic-opera-loving public. The very imperfect sketch of the opera, "Robin Hood," given in this book, is lacking in coherence and in completeness in every way, but a prompt-book, being necessary properly to give the story, is not obtainable. Rather than ignore an American performance which is so graceful, so elegant, and which should certainly be known to every child, an attempt had been made to outline the story. Little idea can be had of the opera's charm from this sketch, but the opera is likely to live, even after the topical stories of "Pinafore" and "The Mikado" have lost their application, because the story of Robin Hood is romantic forever, and the DeKoven music is not likely to lose its charm. "Robin Hood" was first produced at the Chicago Opera House, June 9, 1890, by the Bostonian Opera Company. In January, 1891, under the management of Mr. Horace Sedger, the opera was produced, under the title of "Maid Marian," at the Prince of Wales's Theatre in London. The cast included Mr. Haydn Coffin, Mr. Harry Markham, Miss Marion Manola, and Miss Violet Cameron. ROBIN HOOD CHARACTERS OF THE OPERA Robin Hood Edwin H. Hoff Little John W.H. Macdonald Scarlet Eugene Cowles Friar Tuck George Frothingham Alan-a-Dale Jessie Bartlett Davis Sheriff of Nottingham H.C. Barnabee Sir Guy Peter Lang Maid Marian Marie Stone Annabel Carlotta Maconda Dame Durden Josephine Bartlett ACT I In Sherwood forest, the merriest of lives, Is our outlaw's life so free! We roam and rove in Sherwood's grove, Beneath the greenwood tree. Through all the glades and sylvan shades Our homes (through the glades) are found; We hunt the deer, afar and near, Our hunting horns do we sound.