true that blood-poisoning--not amongst the more familiar sequelae of a
fall downstairs--supervened. But the legend served well enough on the
stage. Among other effects it increased the irritation of the
mother-in-law, who felt that the accident indicated a criminal
carelessness in one who was about to make her a grandmother, a condition
of things that had been brought home to us in the course of some female
conversation flavoured with the most pungent candour. When the truth
came out, the proved devotion of the young wife causes an _entente_
between her and her mother-in-law, accompanied--for reasons which I
cannot at the moment recall--by a parallel reconciliation between the
senior couple. Personally, I felt that the threatened "Indian Summer"
was not likely to be much warmer than the ordinary English kind.

Perhaps the most intriguing feature of the play was the author's
attitude toward her own sex. Mrs. HORLICK frankly took the man's point
of view. Never for one moment did she attempt to encourage our sympathy
for _Helen_ as a wronged wife. Commonly in plays it is the woman,
married to a man she never loved, who claims the liberty of going her
own way and getting something out of life. Here it is the man who is the
victim of a marriage not of his own making (as far as love was
concerned), and the author, through the mouthpiece of the woman's
confidante, makes ample excuse for his desire to snatch some happiness
from fate.

[Illustration: CHILLY FORECAST FOR AN "INDIAN SUMMER."

_Nigel Parry_ Mr. ALLAN AYNESWORTH.
_Helen Parry_ Miss EDYTH GOODALL.]

Unhappily Mrs. HORLICK has much to learn in stage mechanism. The motive
of her exits when, as constantly, she wanted to leave any given couple
alone together, was insufficiently opaque. She began very well and held
our interest closely for some time; but long before the end we should
have been worn out but for the childlike charm and attractive
_gamineries_ of Miss DOROTHY MINTO as _Ursula_. Mr. ALLAN AYNESWORTH,
who acted easily in the rather ambiguous part of _Nigel Parry_, seemed
to share our doubts as to the chances of Mrs. HORLICK'S achieving
popularity at her first attempt, for he confided to us, in a brief
first-night oration, that she was engaged on another play which he hoped
to secure.

But no one will question the serious promise of her present comedy, and
I trust that in any future production she may be assisted by as
excellent a cast. For they