a is in love with the
beautiful Countess Hilda von Weissenstein. Reasons of State, however,
oblige him to throw her over and to take steps towards marriage with a
Princess of Wuertemberg. They have just been betrothed when the Countess,
mad with jealousy, plays the part of the White Lady and appears to the
Princess, to try and terrify her out of the proposed marriage.'

'And the Countess is Miss Bretherton?'

'Yes. Of course the malicious people say that her get-up as the White
Lady is really the _raison d'etre_ of the piece. But hush! there is the
signal. Make up your mind to be bored by the Princess; she is one of the
worst sticks I ever saw!'

The first scene represented the ballroom at the Schloss, or rather the
royal anteroom, beyond which the vista of the ballroom opened. The
Prussian and Wuertemberg royalties had not yet arrived, with the exception
of the Prince Wilhelm, on whose matrimonial prospects the play was to
turn. He was engaged in explaining the situation to his friend, Waldemar
von Rothenfels, the difficulties in which he was placed, his passion for
the Countess Hilda, the political necessities which forced him to marry a
daughter of the House of Wuertemberg, the pressure brought to bear upon
him by his parents, and his own despair at having to break the news to
the Countess.

The story is broken off by the arrival of the royalties, including the
pink-and-white maiden who is to be Prince Wilhelm's fate, and the royal
quadrille begins. The Prince leads his Princess to her place, when it is
discovered that another lady is required to complete the figure, and an
_aide-de-camp_ is despatched into the ballroom to fetch one. He returns,
ushering in the beautiful Hilda von Weissenstein.

For this moment the audience had been impatiently waiting, and when the
dazzling figure in its trailing, pearl-embroidered robes appeared in the
doorway of the ballroom, a storm of applause broke forth again and again,
and for some minutes delayed the progress of the scene.

Nothing, indeed, could have been better calculated than this opening to
display the peculiar gifts of the actress. The quadrille was a stately
spectacular display, in which splendid dress and stirring music and the
effects of rhythmic motion had been brought freely into play for the
delight of the beholders. Between the figures there was a little
skilfully-managed action, mostly in dumb show. The movements of the
jealous beauty and of her faithless