"And she puts such life into her part--she seems to be really
light-hearted and merry," resumed Miss Honnor, who appeared to have been
much taken by Nina's manner on the stage. "Do you know, Mr. Moore, I
could not help to-night thinking more than once of "The Chaplet" and my
sisters and their amateur friends. The difference between an amateur
performance and a performance of trained artists is so marvellous; it
doesn't seem to me to be one of degree at all; at an amateur
performance, however clever it may be, I am conscious all the time that
the people are assuming something quite foreign to themselves, whereas
on the stage the people seem to be the actual characters they profess to
be. I forget they are actors and actresses--"
"You must be a good audience, Miss Cunyngham," said he (it used to be
"Miss Honnor" in Strathaivron, but that was some time ago--_then_ he was
not decked out and painted for exhibition on the stage).
"Oh, I like to believe," she said. "I don't wish to criticise. I wholly
and delightfully give myself up to the illusion. Mother and I go so
seldom to the theatre that we are under no temptation to begin and ask
how this or that is done, or to make any comparisons; we surrender
ourselves to the story, and believe the people to be real people all we
can.
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