was uttered with a melancholy so infinite, pathos so despairing, that Sutherland, who had heard the excitement and enthusiasm, felt the words sink like lead into his heart. His own face was livid now, despite its tan, and a shiver ran through his veins. A scene or two later, when Imogen is transformed into Fidele, the actress still held her audience, but with a less mysterious fascination. In her boy’s dress, which was charmingly delicate and becoming, she fully warranted the exclamation of Belarius on first beholding her: By Jupiter, an angel! or, if not, An earthly paragon! Behold divineness No elder than a boy. Her acting, moreover, was pathetic in the extreme; and thenceforth, until the end of the play, her success was assured. The curtain fell. Call after call greeted the actress, who looked completely exhausted by her efforts, and could scarcely conjure up a smile, as she accepted the bouquets which had been liberally provided for her. White sat in the dark background of a box, crying for joy. As the audience streamed out of the theatre, Sutherland came shoulder to shoulder with little Crieff, who had invited him to sup at the Harum-Scarum. ‘How glum you look!’ said Crieff. ‘Are you disappointed?’ ‘Disappointed, no!’ ‘You don’t seem to share the general enthusiasm?’ ‘I do share it, but, as I told you, I am no judge of acting.’ ‘Well, come and hear what the night-birds say about it. Shall we walk to the club? It’s only a few streets off.’ Arm-in-arm in the moonlight the two men walked away. Sutherland had lighted a cigar, and now, while the other chattered, he scarcely uttered a word. CHAPTER XIX.--THE HARUM-SCARUMS. Mr. J. Watson Crieff was assistant editor of the ‘Charing Cross Chronicle,’ an evening newspaper devoted to smart writing and the conservation of Church and State. He was a hard-working Scotchman, with no pretensions to literary attainments, but honourably connected with journalism in many ways. He was not a regular theatre-goer, still less a professed critic, but he sometimes, as on the present occasion, went to see a Shakespearian performance, and wrote about it afterwards honestly and well.