We hear of that will at the rise of the curtain, and are
consequently not surprised to find . ourselves at once
confronted with two suitors for her hand, Mr. Laurence
Trenwith and Mr. Frederick Maldonado. Mr. Trenwith
has youth, all the graces, and no money. He could



172 DRAMA AND LIFE

only offer his bride a log-hut in British Columbia. Mr,
Maldonado is a burly, aggressive Jew ; but he is also
a millionaire. Of course, Iris loves Trenwith ; but she
cannot face poverty, and, to save herself from her lover,
hastily accepts Maldonado. Hardly has she told
Trenwith of this step when she begins to repent, and
whispers to him to come back to the house that night
after the others have left. When he returns she finds
she has not the strength to part with him, gives him
a note for Maldonado breaking off her engagement,
and falls into his arms. This first act has been most
adroitly conducted. By a novel device of dropping
the curtain for a few seconds at a time, so as to divide
the evening into three " episodes," it has shown us Iris's
nature, her embarrassing situation between the two
men, and the characters of those men — Trenwith's
simple, sincere, rather docile ; Maldonado's fierce,
violent, almost volcanic. It is evident from the first
that there is going to be trouble with Maldonado.
In the second and third acts we are at Cadenabbia,
where Iris and Trenwith are living " for climate and
the affections," to a mandoline accompanim,ent. But
already there is a little rift within the i "mandoline.
