Murray; but Mr. Maugham has done exactly right in leaving us to divine
it. We know all that, at this point, we require to know of the relation
between them; to have told us more would have been to anticipate and
discount the course of events.
A more striking instance of a scene rightly placed behind the scenes
occurs in M. de Curel's terrible drama _Les Fossiles_. I need not go
into the singularly unpleasing details of the plot. Suffice it to say
that a very peculiar condition of things exists in the family of the Duc
de Chantemelle. It has been fully discussed in the second act between
the Duke and his daughter Claire, who has been induced to accept it for
the sake of the family name. But a person more immediately concerned is
Robert de Chantemelle, the only son of the house--will he also accept it
quietly? A nurse, who is acquainted with the black secret, misbehaves
herself, and is to be packed off. As she is a violent woman, Robert
insists on dismissing her himself, and leaves the room to do so.
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