Page:The great Galeoto; Folly or saintliness; two plays done from the verse of José Echegaray into English prose by Hannah Lynch (IA greatgaleotofoll00echerich).djvu/48

. What! More?

. Tell me what is the great dramatic spring?

. My dear fellow, I don't exactly know what you mean by a dramatic spring. All I can tell you is that I have not the slightest interest in plays where love does not preponderate—above all unfortunate love, for I have enough of happy love at home.

. Good, very good! Then in my play there can be little or no love.

. So much the worse. Though I know nothing of your play, I suspect it will interest nobody.

. So I have been telling you. Nevertheless, it is possible to put in a little love,—and jealousy too.

. Ah, then, with an interesting intrigue skilfully developed, and some effective situations

. No, nothing of the sort. It will be all simple, ordinary, almost vulgar … so that the drama will not have any external action. The drama evolves within the personages: it advances slowly: to-day takes hold of a thought, to-morrow of a heart-beat, little by little, undermines the will.

. But who understands all this? How are these interior ravages manifested? Who recounts them to the audience? In what way are they evident? Must we spend a whole evening hunting for a glance, a sigh, a gesture, a single word? My dear boy, this is not amusement. To cast us into such depths is to hurl us upon philosophy.

. You but echo my own thought.

. I have no wish to discourage you. You best know what you are about—there. Though the play seems rather colourless, heavy, uninteresting, perhaps if the dénoûment is sensational—and the explosion—eh? 8