Had the audience
either not known that there was anybody there, or supposed it to be the
"little French milliner," where would have been the breathless interest
which has held us through a whole series of preceding scenes? When Sir
Peter reveals to Joseph his generous intentions towards his wife, the
point lies in the fact that Lady Teazle overhears; and this is doubly
the case when he alludes to Joseph as a suitor for the hand of Maria.
So, too, with the following scene between Joseph and Charles; in itself
it would be flat enough; the fact that Sir Peter is listening lends it a
certain piquancy; but this is ten times multiplied by the fact that Lady
Teazle, too, hears all that passes. When Joseph is called from the room
by the arrival of the pretended Old Stanley, there would be no interest
in his embarrassment if we believed the person behind the screen to be
the French milliner. And when Sir Peter yields to the temptation to let
Charles into the secret of his brother's frailty, and we feel every
moment more certain that the screen will be overthrown, where would be
the excitement, the tension, if we did not know who was behind it? The
real drama, in fact, passes behind the screen.
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