And yet, all things considered, the potter has produced a tolerable pot, and we may write down his fault of extreme foolhardiness as venial. What, however, Mr. CONRAD himself thought of the rehearsals, if he attended them--but perhaps we need not go into that.
It is easy to see the attraction, for the players, of the series of star parts provided by the exciting story. You have first the eccentric, misjudged Swede, _Heyst_ (the adapter makes him an Englishman, perhaps wisely, as our stage takes no account of Swedes), come from self-banishment on a far Pacific island--a complex Conradian personality. Then his arch-enemy, _Schomberg_, lieutenant of reserve, shady hotel-keeper, sensualist and craven, with his insane malice. To these enter as pretty a company of miscreants as ever sailed the Southern seas: the sinister _Jones_, misogynist to the point of fine frenzy, nonconformist in the matter of card-playing, and thereafter frank bandit with a high ethic as to the superiority of plain robbery under arms over mere vulgar swindling--a gentleman with a code, in fact; his strictly incomparable "secretary," _Ricardo_ of the rolling eyes and gait and deathly treacherous knife, philogynist _sans phrase_; and _Pedro_, their groom, a reincarnated _Caliban_. It may also be noted that _Heyst_ has a freak servant, the disappearing _Wang_, whom the adapter uses, I suppose legitimately, as a kind of clown. And then, finally, there is a charming and unusual heroine, _Lena_, still in her teens, but of real flesh and blood, innocent and persecuted, daughter of a drunken fiddler (deceased), herself fiddling in a tenth-rate orchestra at _Schomberg's_ hotel, wherein it is not intended that the music shall be the chief attraction to the guests.
_Heyst_ is Perseus to _Lena's_ Andromeda, carrying her off to his island out of lust's way. But dragon _Schomberg_ has a sting left in his malicious tale, told to the unlikely trio of scoundrels, to the effect that _Heyst_ has ill-gotten treasure hoarded on his island. Dragon _Ricardo_ persuades his chief to the adventure of attaching it. A fine brew of passion and action forsooth: _Lena_ passionately adoring; the aloof _Heyst_ passing suddenly from indifference to ardour; the bestial _Ricardo_ in pursuit of his startled quarry; and gentleman _Jones_ intent on non-existent booty and rapt out of him self by cynical fury at the discovery of an unsuspected woman in the case. And while Mr. CONRAD in his novel drives all these to a relentless doom Mr. HASTINGS contrives a happy ending, which goes perilously near an anticlimax, with the hero on his knees and the heroine pointing up to heaven and claiming a "victory" quite other than their creator intended. But then he knew perfectly well that nobody wants to come to see Miss MARIE LÖHR killed.