140 WITH MR. CHAMBERLAIN IN THE 



One very agreeable lady I met at some party — ^the 

 Whitneys', I think— was Mrs. Hooker. She hailed, 

 to the best of my recollection, from California, and 

 was the daughter of Senator Stewart of Carson City, 

 Nevada. We went together on February i to a 

 matinee of Romeo and Juliet , in which Mrs. Brown 

 Potter and Kyrle Bellew were appearing at the 

 National Theatre. I suppose one way or another, 

 in this country, America, and various European 

 capitals, I have attended theatres some two thousand 

 times, but I never had a more thrilling experience 

 than on this particular afternoon, one which I am 

 not likely to forget in a hurry. The performance 

 was nearly over. The third and last scene of the 

 5th Act was *' Verona churchyard with tomb of the 

 Capulets." Juliet was lying dead opposite the 

 prompt box in a sloping position with her feet 

 towards the audience. Enter Romeo and Mercutio 

 from the right, Romeo with a flaming torch of the 

 foolscap pattern which he plunges into the floor 

 while advancing to Juliet's tomb. I watched this 

 torch carefully : its ** business end '' did not pene- 

 trate deeply enough into the stage to remain in an 

 upright position, but slowly and gradually fell on to 

 the cardboard wall of the churchyard, which, as I 



