the voices rose clear and distinct
to that upper window, before which Lavender stood, a muffled figure, in
a fur coat and cap, and a great wool shawl swathed round face and neck
after the fashion of an English veil.

The melodrama proved even more thrilling than had been expected. On
his, or her, first appearance on the scene, each character advanced to a
spot directly in front of the upstairs window, and obligingly related
the salient points of his life, character, and ambitions, together with
a candid exposition of his intentions towards the other members of the
cast; the while Hannah, as Greek Chorus, interposed moral remarks and
reflections on the same. After an indulgent hearing of these
confessions, it would appear that two ambitions were common to the
actors--either they wished to elope with the hero or heroine, or to
poison the False Caitiff, and the Villainess Number One or Two, or such
a contingent of these worthies as excluded themselves.

The Well-Meaner assiduously endeavoured to foil these intents, and
received the scant amount of encouragement which falls to well-meaning
interference in real life; the Certified Poisonmonger presided over
three tin pails of liquids, labelled respectively, "Lingering,"
"Sudden," and "A highly superior article in writhes and coils. As
patronised by the Empress of China" and the demand for these wares was
naturally brisk in so quarrelsome a company: the False Caitiff chose a
sudden death for his rival, the Hero; Meretricia, the first Villainess,
poisoned the Caitiff by a more lingering means; Villainess Number Two,
under the false impression that the Hero had given his heart to
Meretricia, poisoned that good lady, sparing no money on the deed,
whereby Russell was afforded an admirable opportunity of exhibiting his
wriggling powers. The guileless maid poisoned herself with the dregs in
her lover's glass; and the Poisonmonger, fatigued with the rush of
Christmas business, fainted away, and, being revived by potions from his
own pails, survived only long enough to administer a forcible dose in
revenge. The Well-Meaner's fate differed from that of her companions in
that she was insidiously poisoned by each actor in turn, so that,
figuratively speaking, the curtain descended upon a row of corpses, in
the midst of which the Greek Chorus intoned exemplary precepts and
advice.

Hannah, as Greek chorus, was by common consent pronounced the star of
the company, her interpolate