Clara Hopgood

'No, my dearest love, I would not for the world.'

'An omen,' she said to herself; '"he would not for the world."'

She was in the best of spirits all day long. When the housework was

over and they were quiet together, she said, 'Now, my dear mother and sister, I want to know how the performance pleased you.'

'It was as good as it could be,' replied her mother, 'but I cannot

think why all plays should turn upon lovemaking. I wonder whether

the time will ever come when we shall care for a play in which there

is no courtship.'

'What a horrible heresy, mother,' said Madge.

'It may be so; it may be that I am growing old, but it seems

astonishing to me sometimes that the world does not grow a little

weary of endless variations on the same theme.'

'Never,' said Madge, 'as long as it does not weary of the thing

itself, and it is not likely to do that. Fancy a young man and a

young woman stopping short and exclaiming, "This is just what every

son of Adam and daughter of Eve has gone through before; why should

we proceed?" Besides, it is the one emotion common to the whole

world; we can all comprehend it. Once more, it reveals character.

In Hamlet and Othello, for example, what is interesting is not solely

the bare love. The natures of Hamlet and Othello are brought to

light through it as they would not have been through any other

stimulus. I am sure that no ordinary woman ever shows what she

really is, except when she is in love. Can you tell what she is from

what she calls her religion, or from her friends, or even from her

husband?'

'Would it not be equally just to say women are more alike in love

than in anything else? Mind, I do not say alike, but more alike. Is

it not the passion which levels us all?'

'Oh, mother, mother! did one ever hear such dreadful blasphemy? That

the loves, for example, of two such cultivated, exquisite creatures

as Clara and myself would be nothing different from those of the

barmaids next door?'

'Well, at anyrate, I do not want to see mychildren in love to

understand what they are--to me at least.'

'Then, if you comprehend us so completely--and let us have no more

philosophy--just tell me, should I make a good actress? Oh! to be

able to sway a thousand human beings into tears or laughter! It must

be divine.' 'No, I do not think you would,' replied Clara.