Clay. It was well reviewed when presented at Covent Garden, but ran only briefly, and Robertson did not return to the musical theatre. In 1869 Clay asked him for a second libretto, but he declined and instead gave Clay an introduction to "a better man than I shall ever be", namely Gilbert, who collaborated with Clay on the successful Ages Ago. The success of Society established Robertson as a playwright and enabled him have a decisive voice in the staging of his subsequent plays. His next, the comedy Ours, was first given in August 1866 at the Prince of Wales's, Liverpool under his personal direction with a cast that included Wilton, Squire Bancroft (her future husband and partner) and John Hare. The play transferred to the Prince of Wales's in London the following month and ran for 150 performances. The Times remarked on the "ultra-real" nature of the piece and of its staging. "A complete reformation of the modern drama" During the run of Ours, Robertson, Gilbert, Scott and others contributed short stories to a collection edited by Tom Hood. Robertson's, "The Poor-Rate Unfolds a Tale", formed the basis for his next play at the Prince of Wales's, but before that he had two plays staged at other London theatres: Shadow-Tree Shaft, a drama, at the Princess's, and A Rapid Thaw, an adaptation of a Sardou comedy, at the St James's. In April 1867 his stage version of the short story opened at the Prince of Wales's under the title Caste. In this piece Robertson developed the naturalistic, unexaggerated style for which he was becoming famous. Both as author and director he avoided the over-theatrical bombast of the early Victorian theatre. After the first night of Caste one critic wrote: Gilbert, looking back in 1901, considered Caste Robertson's masterpiece, a judgement with which analysts in the 20th and 21st centuries have concurred. The play ran for 156 performances and was revived for several further runs during the rest of the 19th century. In 1867 Robertson remarried. His second wife was Rosetta Elizabeth Rodmill Feist (1844–1912), whom he had met at a party in London in 1866. They became engaged in August 1867, married at the British consulate in Frankfurt on 17 October, and honeymooned in Paris. They had a daughter and a son. Once back in London, Robertson continued to write and direct. In February 1868 Play was produced at