"What was it ?" He turned, his eyes still wet and his voice choked.

"I broke down," said he; "completely broke down.

I turned away from the audience to recover myself.

But I failed and had the curtain rung." The scene had been spoiled because the actor had been overcome by a sudden flood of real feeling, whereas he was to render by his art the feeling of a fictitious character and so to communicate this to his audience.

Caleb's cue was tears, but not Jefferson's.
On another occasion I saw his self-possession tried in a different way.