If I ca n't , I shall fall into a chair and be graceful . I do n't care if Hugo does come at me with a pistol , '' returned Amy , who was not gifted with dramatic power , but was chosen because she was small enough to be borne out shrieking by the villain of the piece . `` Do it this way . Clasp your hands so , and stagger across the room , crying frantically , ` Roderigo ! Save me ! Save me ! ' '' and away went Jo , with a melodramatic scream which was truly thrilling . Amy followed , but she poked her hands out stiffly before her , and jerked herself along as if she went by machinery , and her `` Ow ! '' was more suggestive of pins being run into her than of fear and anguish . Jo gave a despairing groan , and Meg laughed outright , while Beth let her bread burn as she watched the fun with interest . `` It 's no use ! Do the best you can when the time comes , and if the audience laughs , do n't blame me . Come on , Meg . '' Then things went smoothly , for Don Pedro defied the world in a speech of two pages without a single break . Hagar , the witch , chanted an awful incantation over her kettleful of simmering toads , with weird effect . Roderigo rent his chains asunder manfully , and Hugo died in agonies of remorse and arsenic , with a wild , `` Ha ! Ha ! '' `` It 's the best we 've had yet , '' said Meg , as the dead villain sat up and rubbed his elbows . `` I do n't see how you can write and act such splendid things , Jo . You 're a regular Shakespeare ! ''
exclaimed XXXXX , who firmly believed that her sisters were gifted with wonderful genius in all things .
Amy Beth Hagar Meg Ow Pedro Roderigo burn fall toads