for she was a
fine big woman."

=8. Emphasis by Climax.=--Another rhetorical expedient from
which emphasis may be derived is, of course, the use of climax.
The materials of a short-story, or of a chapter of narrative,
should in nearly every case be assembled in an ascending order of
importance,--each incident carrying the interest to a higher
level than that of the preceding. The same is true of the structure
of a novel from the outset to the moment of the culmination; but
of course it is rarely possible in the _denouement_ to carry the
interest any higher than the level it attained at the point of
greatest complication. Climacteric progressiveness of structure
is effectively exhibited in Henry James' tale of mystery and
terror, "The Turn of the Screw." The author on horror's head
horrors accumulates, in a steadily ascending scale. But, on the
other hand, many stories have been marred by the introduction of
a very striking scene too early in the structure, after which
there has succeeded of necessity an appreciable diminution in the
interest. The reason why sequels to great novels have rarely been
successful is that it has been impossible for the author in the
second volume to sustain a climacteric rise of interest from the
level where he left off in the first.

=9. Emphasis by Surprise.=--A means of emphasis less technical and
more psychological than those which have been hitherto discussed is
that which owes its origin to surprise. Whatever hits the reader
unexpectedly will hit him hard. He will be most impressed by that for
which he has been least prepared. Chapter XXXII of "Vanity Fair"
passes in Brussels during the battle of Waterloo. The reader is kept
in the city with the women of the story while the men are fighting on
the field a dozen miles away. All day a distant cannonading rumbles on
the ear. At nightfall the noise stops suddenly. Then, at the end of
the chapter, the reader is told:--

"No more firing was heard at Brussels--the pursuit rolled miles away.
Darkness came down on the field and city: and Amelia was praying for
George, who was lying on his face, dead, with a bullet through his
heart."

This statement of George Osborne's death is emphasized in several ways
at once. It is made emphatic by position, since it is placed at the
very end of a long chapter; by inverse proportion, since it is set
forth in a single phrase after many pages that have been devoted to
less important matters; but most o