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PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
A very fair house welcomed tho production at the
Princess's Theatre, last evening, of tho new sensation
drama entitled 'Aurora Floyd,'' nud compiled from
Miss Braddon's popular work. The pieco is not too
lengthy to tiro an audience, and throughout it en
grosses attention from the ' thrilling' scenes which
are represented in it. Tho heroine, as announced
in tho bills, is Aurora Flo'id (Miss Rose Edouin), the
wife of Mr John Jlellish (Mr George Fa wcott), who
is residing npon his estnto in Englnud. The latter
engages a horse trainer named Jan Conyers (Mr
John Edouin) to train his race-horses for. a coming
event on which he has heavy stakes depending ; and
in tho coarse of his conversation with Aurora one
morning ho mentions thnt fact to her, and also
reads the letter which Conyers had sent
him accepting the office. Aurora, on
hearing- the name pronounced, starts np tho very
picturo of horror, and frantically seizes hold of the
note Sho eagerly scans its contents. Her agonised
looks betray tho terriblo emotions which arc strug
gling in hor broast; nnd, nt lougth, unable to sus
tain herself, she falls back faintimr into the arms of
her husband. Tho trainer is next seen approaching
the house to assume his now office. On tho way, he
falls in with ouo -S'£cjj/-c;i Hargeaves (Mr Carter),
who had been n short time beforo openly horse
whipped and driven from tho house by Aurora,
and who, therefore, nourished feelings of revenge
against her. Ho at onco gives him a letter to take
to Aurora, and bids him wait for a reply. On the
way, Hargreaves opens tho letter, and discovers its
contents. He obtains an ontranco to tho houso, and,
on receiving the reply, ho leaves, but not beforo ho
has purloined ono of a braco of pistols lying ou a
table in tho room. Aurora is next seen iu the
garden attached to the house, in obedience to an np
pointmeut contained in tho letter, and thero she
meets with tho trainer, to whom, it seems, sho had
been formerly married. Their meeting was a wild
one Tho folly of her early years had induced her
to beccrae his wifo, and after thoy had lived for a
short timo together they separated, his exco3sc3 and
cruel conduct changing that love which she had
formerly cntortained towards him into hate.
Latterly, sho hoard of his death, and
theroby relieved of tho causo of her.
misery, sho soon forgot him altogether,
and married tho second time Henco her start when
his name is pronounced, as that was tho first intima
tion sho had recoived that ho still lived. His errand
was to extort nionoy from her, and knowing that, by
tho noto wbish ho had forwarded to her through
Hargreaves, sho had provided herself with a large
sum, £2000, and this sho hands to him as tho price
of his Boorcsy, and to prevent him annoying her for
the future. Left alone, he proceeds to count the
notes he has received, but in the act ho is shot by
Hargrcaves, who, all the time, nt a convenient
dislnnce, hns been watching thoir interview. Aurora
having, as sho thought, purchased her safety, nnd
unsuspocting the foul deed which has been com
mitted, returns to tho houso, meets her husband
with a beaming countenance, and nssures him she is
no longer afraid of tho trainer. In the morning his
body is discovered in tho garden, and in the pocket
of his cont is found tho certificate of his
marriage with Aurora. This is conveyed to her
husband, aud, though touched by her deception,
ho forgives her -without entertaining nuy thought
that sho had any hand in tho deed. But, shortly
afterwards, when tho pistol is found, which Har
greaves had taken from tho room, a fearful sus
picion crosses his mind that 3I10 hud committed the
murder, nnd that suspicion is strengthened by her
romarks of tho previous evening, that sho then was
not afraid of tho trainer. The police, ultimately
led ou by Hargreaves, who swears that ho saw
Aurora murder him in tho garden, enter [tho house
nnd tako her into custody. Mr Mellish is distracted
with tho fearful tragedy, aud wanders about tho
plnco like a madman. At length ho is mot by tho
servant girl Mary (Miss Lizzie Niiylor), who in
forms him that she saw Hargreaves in his room on
the previous day handling the pistols whilst waiting
todoliver tho letter to Aurora, and also saw him
take one. As it was -not a bullet with which the
trainer had been shot, but u button from off a man's
coat, his mind is partly relieved from the
horrible suspicion of Aurora's guilt. Ho then,
along with another friend, named Talbot Bulstrode
(Mr Keogh), goes in quest of Hargreaves, and in
tho evening ho discovers him in tho garden, with
a lantern in his hand, with tho aid of which he
had been groping his wny to tho spot whero ho
had concealed the fruits of his villnny. Ho at
once secures him, but he is soon overpowered, and
Hargrcanes is about to make him another victim,
when Talbot rushes to the rescuo, nnd stays the
progress of tho knife, which, in a moment more,
would havo drunk his heart's blood. He is then
secured, and tho money being found in his pos
sossion, ho is discovered to have boon the murderer.
Aurora is consequently released, and the piece
terminates. As tho heroine of tho piece, Miss Rose
Edouin plays with great effect, especially in
tho scone when she nt first heurs of
Conyers being alive, and of his being
nppointod ns the trniuor. Her look of horror
and tho eager excitement which she betrays when
sho snatches tho noto from tho hands of Mr Mellisli
to peruse its contents, nnd ultimately fnlls bnck
fainting through the fearful shock the news con
tained in it has occasioned her, at once arrests the
audience. In other parts of the play sho also sustains
her part with equnl effect. Mr Fawcctt seems to be
Mr Jlellish at all points a fond, loving and forgiving
husband. Mr Carter, ns Stephen Hargreaves, is not
less effective ; and as Jan Conyers, the trainer, Mr
John Edouin exhibits nil tho pecnlarities in persons
of that character to advantage Theothorminorparts
ore all equally well sustained, nnd the piece will,
probably, draw good houses during tho week. Tho
burlesque of ' Little Rod Riding-hood, nnd the
Fairies of tho Rose, Shamrock and Thistle,' con
cluded tho evening's entertainment.
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