The fourth act of the play over, the actor was
impatient to be gone, and was heard behind the scenes angrily
demanding the assistance of Warren, his dresser, entirely forgetful of
the fact that his attendant was employed upon the stage in personating
the corpse of Lothario. Mr. Powell's wrath grew more and more intense.
He threatened the absent Warren with the severest of punishments. The
unhappy dresser, reclining on Lothario's bier, could not but overhear
his raging master, yet for some time his fears were surmounted by his
sense of dramatic propriety. He lay and shivered, longing for the fall
of the curtain. At length his situation became quite unendurable.
Powell was threatening to break every bone in his skin. In his
dresser's opinion the actor was a man likely to keep his word. With a
cry of "Here I am, master!" Warren sprang up, clothed in sable
draperies which were fastened to the handles of his bier. The house
roared with surprise and laughter. Encumbered by his charnel-house
trappings, the dead Lothario precipitately fled from the stage. The
play, of course, ended abruptly.
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