llain, is stopped by a yawning chasm. The pursuer is at her heels, and
it seems as though she has no resource but to hurl herself into the
abyss. But she is accompanied by three Indian servants, who happen, by
the mercy of Providence, to be accomplished acrobats. The second climbs
on the shoulders of the first, the third on the shoulders of the second;
and then the whole trio falls forward across the chasm, the top one
grasping some bush or creeper on the other side; so that a living bridge
is formed, on which the heroine (herself, it would seem, something of an
acrobat) can cross the dizzy gulf and bid defiance to the baffled
villain. This is clearly a dramatic crisis within our definition; but,
no less clearly, it is not a piece of rational or commendable drama. To
say that such-and-such a factor is necessary, or highly desirable, in a
dramatic scene, is by no means to imply that every scene which contains
this factor is good drama. Let us take the case of another heroine--Nina
in Sir Arthur Pinero's _His House in Order_. The second wife of Filmer
Jesson, she is continually being offered up as a sacrifice on the altar
dedicated to the memory of his adored first wife. Not only her husband,
but the relatives of the sainted Annabel, make her life a burden to her.
Then it comes to her knowledge--she obtains absolute proof--that
Annabel was anything but the saint she was believed to be. By a single
word she can overturn the altar of her martyrdom, and shatter the
dearest illusion of her persecutors. Shall she speak that word, or shall
she not? Here is a crisis which comes within our definition just as
clearly as the other;[8] only it happens to be entirely natural and
probable, and eminently illustrative of character. Ought we, then, to
despise it because of the element it has in common with the
picture-poster situation of preposterous melodrama? Surely not. Let
those who have the art--the extremely delicate and difficult art--of
making drama without the characteristically dramatic ingredients, do so
by all means; but let them not seek to lay an embargo on the judicious
use of these ingredients as they present themselves in life.

* * * * *

[Footnote 1: _Etudes Critiques_, vol. vii, pp. 153 and 207.]

[Footnote 2: In the most aggravated cases, the misunderstanding is
maintained by a persevering use of pronouns in place of proper names:
"he" and "she" being taken by the hearer to mean A. and