ancy as to the result of a crisis which is taking place
in another room of the same house--is really far more dramatic than the
crisis itself would be. The audience already knows all that the angry
virago can say to her master; and of course no discussion of the merits
of the case is possible between these two. Therefore M. de Curel is
conspicuously right in sparing us the scene of vulgar violence, and
giving us the scene of far higher tension in which Robert's father, wife
and sister expect his return, their apprehension deepening with every
moment that he delays.

We see, then, that there is such a thing as a false _scene a faire_--a
scene which at first sight seems obligatory, but is in fact much better
taken for granted. It may be absolutely indispensable that it should be
suggested to the mind of the audience, but neither indispensable nor
advisable that it should be presented to their eyes. The judicious
playwright will often ask himself, "Is it the actual substance of this
scene that I require, or only its repercussion?"

* * * * *

[Footnote 1: For example, in his criticism of Becque's _La Parisienne
(Quarante Ans de Theatre_, VI, p. 364), he tells how, at the end of the
second act, one of his neighbours said to him, "Eh! bien, vous voila
bien attrape! Ou est la _scene a faire_?" "I freely admit," he
continues, "that there is no _scene a faire_; if there had been no third
act I should not have been greatly astonished. When you make it your
business to recite on the stage articles from the _Vie Parisienne_, it
makes no difference whether you stop at the end of the second article or
at the end of the third." This clearly implies that a play in which
there is no _scene a faire_ is nothing but a series of newspaper
sketches. Becque, one fancies, might have replied that the scene between
Clotilde and Monsieur Simpson at the beginning of Act III was precisely
the _scene a faire_ demanded by the logic of his cynicism.]

[Footnote 2: I need scarcely direct the reader's attention to Mr.
Gilbert Murray's noble renderings of these speeches.]

[Footnote 3: Such a scene occurs in that very able play, _The Way the
Money Goes_, by Lady Bell.]

[Footnote 4: In Mr. Stephen Phillips's play he does not actually play on
the lyre, but he improvises and recites an ode to the conflagration.]

[Footnote 5: And, after all, Mr. Shaw does not run counter to the
legend. He exhibits Caesar and Napoleon