rne. They are in deadly
earnest like Ibsen, and _Margaret Fleming_ sprang directly from their
radicalism on the woman question. The home of these extraordinary
people is a charged battery radiating the most advanced thought. As
one friend said: "No one ever leaves this house as he came. We all go
away with something new and vital to think about."

I give these personal impressions in order that those who saw them in
_Margaret Fleming_ may know that its power was certainly a reflection
of the high thought and purity of moral conviction and life which Mr.
and Mrs. Herne brought to its production and its performance. It
voices their love of truth in art, and freedom in life, and
specifically their position on the woman question.

The story of _Margaret Fleming_ is briefly:--

Philip Fleming is a fairly successful business man in a town near
Boston. He has a devoted wife, a child just reaching its first year's
birthday. The first scene develops the situation by a conversation
between Fleming and his family physician. Fleming offers a cigar which
Dr. Larkin refuses.

_Philip._ You used to respect my cigars. (_Laughing._)

_Doctor._ I used to respect you....

_Philip._ Why not, for heaven's sake?

_Doctor._ Because you've no more moral nature than Joe Fletcher
has.

_Philip._ Oh! come now, Doctor, that's rather--

_Doctor._ (_Looking sternly at him._) At two o'clock last night,
Lena Schmidt gave birth to a child.

_Philip._ (_His eyes meet those of the Doctor, then drop to the
floor._) How in God's name did they come to send for you?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

_Doctor._ I don't believe she'll ever leave that bed alive.

_Philip._ Well, I've done all I can to--

_Doctor._ Yeh have, eh?

_Philip._ She's had all the money she needed.... If she'd a' done
as I wanted her to, this never'd a' happened. I tried to get her
away six months ago, but she wouldn't go. She was as obstinate as
a mule.

_Doctor._ Strange that she should want to be near you, aint it?
If she'd got tired of you and wanted to go, you wouldn't have let
her.

_Philip._ (_With a sickly smile._) You must think I'm--

_Doctor._ I don't think anything about it. I _know_ just what
such animals as you are.

_Philip._ Why, I haven't seen her for a--

_Doctor._ Haven' t yeh! well