in a little gag now and then."

Railsford, after what he had witnessed, was prepared to admit this, and
left the disciple of the dramatic Muse to himself and the lamp-post, and
secretly hoped when the performance of the Comedians came off he might
get an "order" for the stalls.

Although the Grandcourt House Comedians were an old institution, they
had not always been equally flourishing. At Railsford's, for instance,
in past years they had decidedly languished. The performances had
possibly been comic, but that was due to the actors, not the author, for
the scenes chosen were usually stock selections from the tragedies of
Shakespeare; such, for instance, as the death of King Lear, the ghost
scene in Hamlet, the conspirators' scene in Julius Caesar, and the
banquet in Macbeth. But as soon, as the irrepressible Wake got hold of
the reins, as of course he did, the old order changed with startling
rapidity. The new director made a clean sweep of Shakespeare and all
his works.

"What's the fun of doing Roman citizens in Eton jackets and white
chokers," said he, "and sending everybody to sleep? Let's give them a
change, and make them laugh."

As if everybody hadn't laughed for years at the Roman citizens in Eton
jackets!

So he hunted about and made inquiries of friends who were supposed to
know, and finally submitted to the company a certain screaming farce,
entitled, _After You_! with--so the description informed him--two funny
old gentlemen, one low comedian, two funny old ladies, and one maid-of-
all-work, besides a few walking gentlemen and others. It sounded
promising, and a perusal of the piece showed that it was very amusing.
I cannot describe it, but the complications were magnificent; the two
old gentlemen, one very irascible the other very meek, were, of course,
enamoured of the two old ladies, one very meek, and the other very
irascible; the low comedian was, of course, the victim and the plague of
both couples, and took his revenge by the usual expedient of siding with
each against the other, and being appointed the heir to both. The
walking gentlemen were--need it be said?--the disappointed heirs; and
the maid-of-all-work, as is the manner of such persons, did everybody's
work but her own.

The parts were allotted with due care and discrimination. The two funny
old gentlemen were undertaken by Sherriff and Ranger, the two funny old
ladies by Dimsdale and Maple, the low comedian by Sir Digby Oaksh