"Need I go on? Need I tell you how, in the next scene, when she and I were supposed to be escaping from the Austrian soldiery, those brave heroes came on, and, as the first slipped over our general enemy, the others came tumbling after? How massive rocks were knocked over by the falling bodies, and how the second act terminated in convulsions on the part of the audience? Need I tell you that, in the last act, the actors had become through sheer helplessness as demoralized as the audience--that I assured my love, in a voice smothered by laughter, that nothing would shake my firmness of belief in her--that she chuckled out she believed me--or that Irving came on to die in a white shirt, a blood-red spot on his breast, and his face all grins, dying the most facetious death actor ever died? Oh, that night--that night of horrors!" (_Curtain._) SCENE V.--_The street. A very, very desirable residence, with well-laid-out grounds in rear. Brougham waiting. (It is not intended to attempt to describe the extraordinary mechanical methods employed to bring about this sensational change of scene, seeing that a journey is about to be made from St. John's Wood to the Criterion Theatre, Piccadilly. It is unnecessary and useless, for no theatrical manager, be he professional or amateur, would attempt it.)_ THE MODERN MATHEWS _leads the way down steps followed by_ INTERVIEWER. THE MODERN MATHEWS (_aside to_ INTERVIEWER): Have a good look at the coachman on the quiet. (INTERVIEWER _does so. Both enter brougham._) [Illustration: "THE GREAT DIVORCE CASE." _From a Photo by Falk, New York._ "MR. PILKIE" (Mr. William Blakeley). "GEOFFREY GORDON" (Mr. Chas. Wyndham).] THE MODERN MATHEWS: Whom do you think he was coachman to?--(_whispers_)--_Byron_! INTERVIEWER: What--Henry--Henry J.? THE MODERN MATHEWS: Yes, dear old "Our Boys" Byron. He was with him for seven years. I've had him since. Poor old Byron! What a wit he was. He joked to the last--almost his last breath was a joke. He wrote "Fourteen Days" for me. He was very bad--had a consumptive cough when the play was finished. He would persist in reading it to me. It was heartbreaking. When he was dying we used to drop in and sit with him, and take him little delicacies. Just before he had been doing work for Hare and Kendal at the St. James's. I went in one day, and there was a fine hare by his side. "Hare sent it to me," he said. "It's so big that I thought Kendal was inside!" Dear old Byron! (_A pause._) [Illustration: "THE GREAT DIVORCE CASE" _From a Photo by Falk, New York._ "PARKER" (Miss Kate Rorke). "G. GORDON" (Mr. Wyndham).]