s the
door herself. To my surprise--for Ambulinia's heart had still seemed
free at the time of their last interview--love beamed from the girl's
eyes. One sees that Elfonzo was surprised, too; for when he caught that
light, "a halloo of smothered shouts ran through every vein." A neat
figure--a very neat figure, indeed! Then he kissed her. "The scene was
overwhelming." They went into the parlor. The girl said it was safe,
for her parents were abed, and would never know. Then we have this
fine picture--flung upon the canvas with hardly an effort, as you will
notice.

Advancing toward him, she gave a bright display of her rosy neck, and
from her head the ambrosial locks breathed divine fragrance; her robe
hung waving to his view, while she stood like a goddess confessed before
him.

There is nothing of interest in the couple's interview. Now at this
point the girl invites Elfonzo to a village show, where jealousy is the
motive of the play, for she wants to teach him a wholesome lesson, if he
is a jealous person. But this is a sham, and pretty shallow. McClintock
merely wants a pretext to drag in a plagiarism of his upon a scene or
two in "Othello."

The lovers went to the play. Elfonzo was one of the fiddlers. He and
Ambulinia must not been seen together, lest trouble follow with the
girl's malignant father; we are made to understand that clearly. So the
two sit together in the orchestra, in the midst of the musicians. This
does not seem to be good art. In the first place, the girl would be in
the way, for orchestras are always packed closely together, and there
is no room to spare for people's girls; in the next place, one cannot
conceal a girl in an orchestra without everybody taking notice of it.
There can be no doubt, it seems to me, that this is bad art.

Leos is present. Of course, one of the first things that catches his eye
is the maddening spectacle of Ambulinia "leaning upon Elfonzo's chair."
This poor girl does not seem to understand even the rudiments of
concealment. But she is "in her seventeenth," as the author phrases it,
and that is her justification.

Leos meditates, constructs a plan--with personal violence as a basis,
of course. It was their way down there. It is a good plain plan, without
any imagination in it. He will go out and stand at the front door, and
when these two come out he will "arrest Ambulinia from the hands of the
insolent Elfonzo," and thus make for himself a "more prosperous