_Karissima_, says _Vere_ to _Maestro_ later in the evening, is depressed. Because she hasn't a child. They both tremendously want a child. _Maestro_, silently showing his watch-dial, would seem to wish to suggest that they were unreasonably impatient. _Karissima_ also pleads. Well, he will see what he can do. But there's an awful penalty. For a new Russian dancer cannot be made unless another surrenders life. Anyway he fetches his black bag. And _Karissima_ dances down the main staircase with her babe, who grows apace and is shortly seen prancing in the garden (on his toes--"Thank Heaven!" says the _Maestro_). And _Karissima_ dies and is brought in on her bier, and dances (she _would_!) her own funeral service. _Maestro's_ heart is touched; he lies down in her stead, and she, dancing on a carpet of thistle-down shot with stars (I think), and her lord (I am sure), perpetually exclaiming, "How perfectly topping!"--both achieve an enviable immortality. Madame KARSAVINA is exquisite; she is well supported by Mr. C.M. LOWNE (_Hon. Bill_), Mr. HERMAN DE LANGE (_Maestro_), Miss G. STERROLL(_Dowager_), and Mr. BASIL FOSTER (_Lord Vere_). And I thought I detected Mr. DU MAURIER'S appreciation of the bizarre in his production. But the triumph is the triumph of the whimsical author. I don't think he has ever done anything better; more ambitious things, yes, but nothing so free from flaw. Isn't it more than possible that just three-score years ago, on a May day (see _Who's Who_), some Maestro of Fantasy slipped into a little house in Kirriemuir, N.B., with a black bag? Wouldn't that explain the otherwise inexplicable, the unwearying resourcefulness, the unabashed playfulness of this impenitent youth? T. * * * * * DRAM.BAC. A suggestion has been put forward, with the support of the British Drama League and others, for the establishment at our universities of a "Faculty of the Theatre and Dramatic Degree." Heartily applauding the proposal, we append a typical examination paper for the final school:-- (1) Sketch briefly the progress of amateur acting in this country, from the impersonation of a Danish minstrel by ALFRED THE GREAT, to the Victory Varieties Matinee arranged by Lady Eve Tatlery. (2) Arrange, in order of probability, the first fifty authors of SHAKSPEARE. (3) "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing-fields of Eton." Estimate the rival claims of the Windsor Strollers. (4) Indicate your make-up for ROMULUS, HENRY THE EIGHTH, ABRAHAM LINCOLN. (5) What is a point, and how made? A "straight" line lies evenly between any good points; give instances. (6) Under what dramatic conditions can a part be greater than the whole? Cite the authority of any two actor-managers for this theory. (7) Explain, with diagrams, (a) The Eternal Triangle; (b) Squaring the Upper Circle. (8) Illustrate the axiom that the length of a run varies with the breadth of the dialogue.