“The young man heard the sentence, smiled softly, and to himself did say, ‘Oh man, proud man, clothed in a little brief authority, doth cut such fantastic tricks before high heaven as does make angels weep! Now for myself I do not care, but the lady forsooth, whose play it is, or was before ’twas burned--shame on them!--how can I tell her?’ And so he wandered forth and met but who? Why, Harriette, who sought the youth full far and wide, for she had heard the news and grieved she was and sick, fearing the blow might prove too much for him whose play it was. ‘I care not for myself,’ she said; ‘but how--how can I tell him?’ They met--each read full in the other’s eyes what each would say. Both smiled and walked away.” FOOTNOTE: [2] It is a fact known to all students that Shakespeare was the first dramatist who wrote the double play--that is, the first plot of high characters with a second story worked out by the lower or comedy characters. This peculiarity is now made use of by all writers of plays. Note, _The Merchant of Venice_, _As You Like It_, _Comedy of Errors_, etc. CHAPTER XVII. THOSE TWO. “The disappointment caused by the harsh rejection of this first play of William Shakespeare and Harriette Bowenni was not great. Each had had a more than speaking acquaintanceship with sorrow, and trouble is only comparative anyway; so they looked upon the matter rather as a thing to be expected, an amusing circumstance. _They knew the play was better than the one accepted_, and that was enough. ‘Is not William Shakespeare just as great as though his name _was_ on the bill board?’ the lady said. Another reason that made them look on the matter lightly was that each read their fate in the other’s face, and as long as no separation is threatened love not only laughs at locksmiths but at all disaster. No awkward love-making scene had ever come between them, no formal declaration. As he wrote that first night, the young man unconsciously reached out his hand toward the girl. She took it, and held it lovingly between her own. When they parted he stooped and their lips met. “When next they walked along the street, among other things he said, ‘I love you, dear.’ The young woman made no sign of surprise, but when she wrote to him the following day (strange how lovers find excuse to write so often!), there were terms of endearment, all inserted without apology. No wooing--no effort at winning--no affected coyness. They loved, and true love need not be ashamed, for ’tis God’s own gift, and given only to the worthy.