st those last eight sandwiches, I shall
stay away.

A BREATH OF LIFE

This is the story of a comedy which nearly became a tragedy. In its way
it is rather a pathetic story.

The comedy was called _The Wooing of Winifred_. It was written by an
author whose name I forget; produced by the well-known and (as his
press-agent has often told us) popular actor-manager, Mr. Levinski; and
played by (among others) that very charming young man, Prosper
Vane--known locally as Alfred Briggs until he took to the stage. Prosper
played the young hero, _Dick Seaton_, who was actually wooing
_Winifred_. Mr. Levinski himself took the part of a middle-aged man of
the world with a slight _embonpoint_; down in the programme as _Sir
Geoffrey Throssell_ but fortunately still Mr. Levinski. His opening
words, as he came on, were, "Ah, Dick, I have a note for you somewhere,"
which gave the audience an interval in which to welcome him, while he
felt in all his pockets for the letter. One can bow quite easily while
feeling in one's pockets, and it is much more natural than stopping in
the middle of an important speech in order to acknowledge any cheers.
The realization of this, by a dramatist, is what is called "stagecraft."
In this case the audience could tell at once that the "technique" of the
author (whose name unfortunately I forget) was going to be all right.

But perhaps I had better describe the whole play as shortly as possible.
The theme--as one guessed from the title, even before the curtain
rose--was the wooing of _Winifred_. In the First Act _Dick_ proposed to
_Winifred_ and was refused by her, not from lack of love, but for fear
lest she might spoil his career, he being one of those big-hearted men
with a hip-pocket to whom the open spaces of the world call loudly;
whereupon Mr. Levinski took _Winifred_ on one side and told the audience
how, when _he_ had been a young man, some good woman had refused _him_
for a similar reason and had been miserable ever since. Accordingly in
the Second Act _Winifred_ withdrew her refusal and offered to marry
_Dick_, who declined to take advantage of her offer for fear that she
was willing to marry him from pity rather than from love; whereupon Mr.
Levinski took _Dick_ on one side and told the audience how, when _he_
had been a young man, he had refused to marry some good woman (a
different one) for a similar reason, and had been broken-hearted ever
afterwards. In the Third Act it really se