descends upon "the suburban end of a small provincial town in the Midlands" (vide programme) to find that Will Topplethwaite (engaged to Amelia Jevons) has made a very pressing appointment with Kittie Barson (his true love). The parson offers her, as an alternative engagement, a pew in the church for his new sermon. Kittie, being lamentably weak, plumps in favour of her adored one, and the twain take train for distant parts. Kittie, unmindful of the good old saying that "You may as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb," jibs at the critical moment, and after an uncomfortable séance in a station waiting-room (the graveyard of many a promising romance), returns to the village to find that she is a square peg in a round hole. Alas, for the value of repentance, in certain circumstances, at the eleventh hour. She went away with an honourable young man, whose only thought was marriage, and she treated him as though he had been the villain of feuilleton. The Prodigal's Unwelcome Return The return of the runaway only made matters It angered the honourable Will, it did not worse. improve her position with her dear relations (the station story would not go down with them), and it forced her to seek refuge with the Rev. E. Sotheby, thereby undoing all the good work he had achieved among his parishioners, for, of course, the fair Kittie was not allowed to become the nurse of the parson's fouryear-old boy without things being said. Things were said, and action taken to such purpose that the Rev. E. Sotheby (in love with Mrs. Patullo) in desperation offered marriage to Kittie. This note of the playwright's sounded like a cracked bell. It was quite ineffective dramatically, and it was a relief when the absurd situation exploded. Kittie crept out of the play after discovering that her protector was in love with Mrs. Patullo (no married woman, but an up-to-date young lady who invented a husband for the emancipation his name brought her). The acting in the play calls for little comment, though a word of praise is due for the manner in which Mr. Forbes Robertson, Miss Gertrude Elliott, and Master Herbert Hollom played the sentimental passages with which the play was sprinkled. E. C. S. THE PHOTOGRAPH An improvised background of Alpine scenery Where Shall We Go To-Night? "BYSTANDER" THEATRE GUIDE DRURY LANE, at 8: The Prodigal Son.-Hurry up and book seats, for even a Prodigal Son has to make way for Christmas Pantomime. HIS MAJESTY'S, at 8: Oliver Twist.-Adaptation a series of excellent "bits," especially Mr. Tree's Fagin. HAYMARKET, at 8.30: Privy Council.-Neat Pepysian piece. 9.10: Lucky Miss Dean.-A fresh little play. GARRICK, at 8: The Merchant of Venice.-Has passed the fiftieth night mark. ADELPHI, at 8: A Midsummer Night's Dream.Shakespearean plays are a strong and welcome feature of Otho Stuart's management. WYNDHAM'S, at 8.45: Public Opinion.-An amusing farce, with one situation running through three acts without slowing down. NEW, at 9: Captain Drew on Leave.-Going very strong. COURT, at 8.15: Man and Superman. -Intending Benedicks should see it before taking the plunge. DUKE OF YORK's, at 8. 15: Sherlock Holmes.-The last week. IMPERIAL, at 8.15: The Temptation of Samuel Burge.--New farce by W. W. Jacobs and Frederick Fenn. At 8.45: The Perfect Lover.-An ethical play, with good situations and well acted. SCALA, at 8: Mrs. Grundy.-Domestic play, with sentimental interludes. Master Herbert Hollom a wonderful stage child. APOLLO, at 8.15: Mr. Popple (of Ippleton) is Mr. Huntley in his best form, as a countryman in London. WALDORF, at 8.45: Lights Out.--The first dish of the strong meat drama with which playgoers are now to be served. GREAT QUEEN STREET THEATRE: The German Company. Always worth a visit. Musical plays at DALY'S, CRITERION, GAIETY, LYRIC. -Take them in order named. bloodthirsty aid. It would really be terrible if Mr. Shaw, for instance, instead of writing "Mrs. Warren's Profession" with purple ink, and thus getting it the advertisement of suppression, had aired his grievance by hurling bombs into Bayswater back parlours, or if the author of "When It Was Dark," instead of getting his new serial in the Daily Mail on the unemployed boomed by a bishop, had gone about shooting shipbuilders in Shadwell. Mrs. Fitzroy Erskine Society is still gossiping over the sudden and romantic marriage which was recently celebrated at the Maidenhead Registry Office between Mr. "Fitzroy » Erskine, as he is usually called, and Mrs. Winifrede Cross, of Peebles Court, near Maidenhead. Fitzroy Erskine, who is thirty-five, is a well-known man about town, and a brother of the Duchess of Sutherland. Mrs. Cross has been married for some eight years to Mr. Jack Cross. She divorced him, the "decree absolute" being given this summer, but she still remains on speaking terms with her late husband. Mrs. Cross is a fascinating little lady, with a pronounced beauté de diable, and doesn't in the least mind what she says. Mr. Photo by Photo by Minister, has recently been much in evidence, owing to the entertainment of her husband's Sovereign master, King George. She comes of an ancient family, of which Prince Cantacuzene of Roumania is the present head. She and her only daughter, Miss Marie Métaxas, are very fond of London, and go out a great deal, and their exquisite gowns always provoke a certain amount of sensation at those Courts attended by Ilustrations Bureau Mr. Lionel Terry The author of "The Shadow," sentenced to death, but subsequently to penal servitude for life, in New Zealand for the murder of a Chinaman them, for they have exceptionally good taste, and the Ambassadress has splendid jewels. The German Menace in Holland Last week, the Dutch States-General were very seriously considering the question of the succession in the event of Queen Wilhelmina's demise, there being no heir to her marriage with Prince Henry. There is an old law of the Dutch Constitution which provides that the Sovereign may remarry after a fruitless union of more than five years, and some idea is held in Holland of putting this law into force, for the very good reason that the next-ofkin to the throne is a German, the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and after him the Prince of Reuss, also a German. Such a succession would, of course, be after the Kaiser's own heart. Holland, with its magnificent harbours, would immeasurably improve Germany's naval and commercial position, and in the Dutch East Indies, the Kaiser would find a ready made Colonial Empire of enormous wealth. But the Dutch are not exactly extinct as a Power, so that prospect may yet be averted. It is said that the QueenMother would be appointed Regent in the event of the Queen's demise, pending a settlement of the succession, while the Radical and Socialist Mrs. Fitzroy Erskine Esmé Collings, Ltd. Who, having divorced her late husband, Mr. Jack Cross, has suddenly married Mr. Fitzroy Erskine, brother of the Duchess of Sutherland Madame Métaxas Madame Métaxas (whose portrait appears as the frontispiece of this issue), the wife of the Greek Poet, Dramatist, Engineer, and Prince The Prince of Montenegro's Manifesto Now that Constitutions are in vogue, the ruler of Montenegro has determined that his little Principality shall not be behind hand, and has just issued a manifesto to that effect. Prince Nicholas has thus wisely forestalled any misunderstandings between himself and his subjects on a matter at present dividing Russia into two such determined parties. After some months' reflection, he has come to the conclusion that autocracy is out-of-date in Europe. Prince's present might have, nevertheless, proved a white elephant to the heroic and primitive population of Montenegro, but that his generosity is tempered by prudence. After impressing on them that the proposed Constitution is the gift of his own free will, he states that he will continue to help them to find out what they want, and how much of it is good for them. The political duties which must henceforth complicate their lives. Prince Nicholas, Generalissimo, Chief Judge, and Absolute Ruler in Montenegro, has also devoted his personal talents to the country's cultural progress. He is the first poet and dramatist in the land-his best work, "The Balkan Tsaritsa," has been represented in many European theatres -and he has composed the school curriculum. All industrial undertakings are submitted to his judgment, and he supervises even architectural or engineering plans of public importance The Prince's daughters have made brilliant alliances. One is Queen of Italy, two are GrandDuchesses of Russia, and one is a Princess of Battenberg. Crown Prince Danilo has married a Princess of Mecklenberg-Strelitz, daughter of a Royal Princess of Great Britain; and his second son, Prince Mirko, whose cordial relations with King Edward in Marienbad were lately the theme of excited German and Slav journalists, has, by his marriage with a daughter of the House of Obrenovitch, been credited with aspirations to the throne of Servia. Prince Nicholas has other sons and daughters for whom equally brilliant alliances are predicted. H.R.H. Prince Nicholas of Montenegro Who has just drawn up a Constitution for his little Principality The State of Montenegro has hitherto flourished under patriarchal rule, and the hardy mountaineers, inured to warfare by incessant skirmishes with Turk and Albanian, have never aspired to the exercise of those civic and View of Christiania from the window of the Royal Palace |