t something which
would be less of a continuous tragic strain than this. Why, almost all
the modern tragic plays have their passages of relief, but the texture
of _Elvira_ is so much the same throughout,--I cannot conceive a greater
demand on any one. And then you must consider your company. Frankly, I
cannot imagine a part less suited to Mr. Hawes than Macias; and his
difficulties would react on you.'

'I can choose whom I like,' she said abruptly; 'I am not bound to Mr.
Hawes.'

'Besides,' he said cautiously, changing his ground a little, 'I should
have said--only, of course, you must know much better--that it is a
little risky to give the British public such very serious fare as this,
and immediately after the _White Lady_. The English theatre-goer never
seems to me to take kindly to medievalism--kings and knights and nobles
and the fifteenth century are very likely to bore him. Not that I mean to
imply for a moment that the play would be a failure in point of
popularity. You have got such a hold that you could carry anything
through; but I am inclined to think that in _Elvira_ you would be rather
fighting against wind and tide, and that, as I said before, it would be a
great strain upon you.'

'The public makes no objection to Madame Desforets in Victor Hugo,' she
answered quickly, even sharply. 'Her parts, so far as I know anything
about them, are just these romantic parts, and she has made her enormous
reputation out of them.'

Kendal hesitated. 'The French have a great tradition of them,' he said.
'Racine, after all, was a preparation for Victor Hugo.'

'No, no!' she exclaimed, with sudden bitterness and a change of voice
which startled him; 'it is not that. It is that I am I, and Madame
Desforets is Madame Desforets. Oh, I see! I see very well that your mind
is against it. And Mr. Wallace--there were two or three things in his
manner which have puzzled me. He has never said yes to my proposal
formally. I understand perfectly what it means; you think that I shall do
the play an injury by acting it; that it is too good for me!'

Kendal felt as if a thunderbolt had fallen; the sombre passion of her
manner affected him indescribably.

'Miss Bretherton!' he cried.

'Yes, yes!' she said, almost fiercely, stopping in the path. 'It's that,
I know. I have felt it almost since your first word. What power have I,
if not tragic power? If a part like Elvira does not suit me, what does
suit me? Of course, that is wh