“Algernon wondered vaguely if he had done right in leaving the handkerchief where she had dropped it, on the center table. If only it had been the arm chair, now, what a different complexion it would have put upon this dilemma—if it was a dilemma—no, hardly a dilemma, rather a quandary, or even a question. And she—did she, too, brood upon the handkerchief? Did she justify herself in dropping it, in the way she did? He arose, wearily. ‘I dunno,’ he said, defiantly, yet hopelessly, and sat down.”—_Advance sheets from H. James._ * * * * * That the Stage has fallen into a very bad way none dispute, and under present conditions I cannot do better than to commend this ordinance, passed in London in 1642, to the earnest consideration of His Honor, the Mayor, and the Honorable Common Council of the City of New York: Whereas the Acts of Stage-Plays, Interludes and Common Plays, Condemned by Ancient Heathens, and much less to be tolerated amongst Professors of the Christian Religion, is the occasion of many and sundry great vices and disorders, tending to the high provocation of God’s wrath and displeasure, and to the disturbance of the peace: Therefore, for the better suppression of the said Stage-Plays, Interludes, and Common Plays, It is Ordered and Ordained by the Lords and Commons in this present Parliament Assembled, and by Authority of the same, That all Stage-Players, and Players of Interludes, and common Plays, are hereby declared to be Rogues, and punishable, within the Statutes of the thirty-ninth year of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, and the seventh year of the Reign of King James, and liable unto the pains and penalties therein contained, and proscribed against according to the said Statutes.