All's Fair in Love

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In this comedy of the time "when George the Third was King" we see the course of true love running very much as it does in this 20th century. Two very delightful young people, very much in love with each other, by the entrance of the green-eyed monster upon the scene, become involved in a harmless lovers' quarrel. The quarrel grows to the point where Katherine returns the Captain's engagement ring, and vows that she will never dance with him in all her life again. Now all this takes place at a ball in Katherine's own home, and the Captain wants a dance very badly, so he is disposed to dispute her decision, and when she insists upon it they make a wager. He is to make her dance with him before 12 o'clock, if he can. There are only twenty minutes left in which to accomplish this result, now doubly desirable, but the Captain has an inspiration and his love finds a way. Bargaining with the footman for his livery and powdered wig, the Captain waits until the other guests have gone and, while the lonely little Katherine is writing a note asking him to come back, be appears before her in his disguise. In the dimming light she is deceived by the powdered wig and livery and only notices that the footman has apparently had too much of the punch and is slightly tipsy. Though a brave little lady she is so badly frightened at being alone with a man in this condition, that when he boldly proposes that she shall dance with him she dare not refuse. In perfect measure they dance the beautiful old-time minuet, presenting a picture that is not only charming because of the grace with which the dance is performed, but delightfully comic as well, because we know that the little lady has so little cause for her fear of the footman (?). While they are dancing the clock strikes twelve, and the Captain pulls off his powdered wig and tells her he has won the wager. While we laugh at her discomfiture we cannot blame her for tearing up the note she had written and throwing it in his face; nevertheless do we sympathize with the gallant Captain when we see her pick up the old flint-lock pistol and, presenting it at his head, force him to throw down the rose the other girl has given him, get down on his knees and swear to be good forever and ever.