Yes, these apartments will do very well; and you shall have your study,—if a place with one shelf for books and a commodious chair to sleep in deserves the name,—overhead.
But you forget the writing-table, the most important thing of all.
Most important, indeed, for a poet who never writes any thing longer than a sonnet, making progress at the astonishing rate of one couplet per day. The window-sill might do well enough for that.
But you think of former times, my friend; rhyming becomes easier by practice.
So it does, like all other things; and I dare say you can now write two couplets per day with no great difficulty.
Don't trouble thy head about my progress; let us set out on our visit to Sir Cameron. His mansion is scarcely a mile off, I am told. He is a kind-hearted fellow; he will be glad to see us.
Yes, if he do not take it into his head that we have some covert design in our visit.
Some covert design!
Ay; sounding his intentions as to standing for the county: propitiating his patronage for some itinerant artist or lecturer: introducing to his acquaintance some forward chaperon, with a troop of female cousins at her back, to invade the daily peace of his home. O dear! what will he not imagine, rather than that we are scampering about the country for holiday recreation, and have come ten miles out of our way to see him.
You are somewhat hard upon him, methinks. Some events of his youth unhappily gave him a bad opinion of mankind; for myself, I never found him suspicious.
If he thought you had wit enough to deceive him, it might be otherwise. You may thank your poetry, my dear Thornhill, for his confidence.
Nay, spare me, dear Brightly; else I shall suppose thou art a poet thyself, under the rose, and canst not brook a rival.
See that urchin in the garden; he has broken a pane of the window, and is running away.
Because I meant to hit the door.
I wish thou hadst been a better marksman. What will the landlady say to thee?
Ay, more words no doubt than I shall care to hear.—Ah, miss Aimy, miss Aimy! how many scrapes I get into by you!
And who is miss Aimy, I pray?
My arrow, Sir: that is the name I give her.
And a very appropriate one, methinks.
But what is thine own name?
Which of them, Sir?
How many hast thou?
Two godfathers, two grandfathers, and a brace of uncles, have furnished me with names enow.—How many do they come to?
Names enough, no doubt, for any one but a German Prince. What school dost thou attend?
None, sir.
Who teaches thee to read and write?
Any body,—who has most time and most patience.
But art thou not to be put to school?
Yes, Sir, when aunt Letty can make up her mind, whether the old floggum way, or the Pestilozi way, or the Hamiltonian fashion, is best for my learning; and whether a high situation, or a warm situation, or an eastern exposure, or a western exposure, is best for my health; and whether three hundred schoolfellows, or fifty schoolfellows, or twenty schoolfellows, fagging or no fagging, be best for my morals.
Ha! ha! ha! I will not ask whose nephew thou art. And thou hast a pretty sister too.
Yes, Sir; people do call her pretty, and she is civil enough to believe them.
Out upon thee for a saucy knave!—Thine aunt is here then? And where does she live?
I can't tell you, Sir! When she has found out which of the twenty houses she has been looking at is the cheerfullest, and the cleanest, and the most convenient, I suppose she will settle in it.
Go to her, my little master, and give my best respects, and say that an old friend will do himself the honour of waiting upon her presently.—Nay, you need not look at the broken pane so ruefully; I will satisfy the landlady on that point.
Ha! ha! ha! Well, I can't help laughing for the soul of me .
What tickles you so much?
Those two originals come in one another's way again. There was a report of a love affair between them several months ago, which went off upon some foolish difficulty or other; and now she comes here to place herself in his neighbourhood.
I hope it is only to throw herself in his way. (Aloud.) Poh! it will all end, as it did before, in scruples, and fancies, and misapprehensions! Don't you think it will?
I hope not: what a match they would make if it could be effected!
How! Suspicion and indecision put together as yoke-fellows!
Why not? If they are together, two people may lead an uneasy life, to be sure; but it will, in all probability, save four from being in the like condition.
It will never be effected.
I'll bet my Rembrandt against your paddock, which I have long coveted for orchard ground, that it will be effected.
Well then, I take your bet that it will not.
Hush, hush! Here comes one of the parties concerned.
Welcome, Brightly; and Thornhill, also, welcome both to this little by-nook of dissipation! and when you took your route this way, I flatter myself you remembered that you have an old friend in the neighbourhood.
We did so, Kunliffe, and were now proposing to walk to your house. It is, I believe, within two miles of the village.
A short distance, which I hope you will often traverse, on foot or on horseback, as suits your convenience. I saw your groom at the stable door, Thornhill, rubbing down that beautiful brown nag of yours, and he told me you were here.
It is lucky you did; we might have gone to your house else and missed you.
So you might.—Did I not hear you talking of a bet as I entered? You will not be silly enough to bet away that beautiful animal?
O no! it did not concern the nag.
It neither concerns the nag nor the nag's master; yet it is a bet of some moment too.
No doubt, no doubt; it was foolish in me to think of the paces of a horse, when all the menage of our borough canvassers is approaching, and doubtful enough, I wot, to tempt any better.
It did not concern the borough neither.
O! you are close and mysterious, gentlemen.
To give you the pleasure of guessing.
I'faith, you are mistaken in that. What pleasure should I have in guessing? No man on earth has less curiosity than myself.
I think I have known some men with less: had you said women, I should have assented more readily.
Fy upon thee! both men and women are nine-pins for thy bowl to roll at.
And he may have good bowling here, I trow; there be men of many conditions in this by-nook of dissipation, as you call it, and I am sure there is one lady, at least, of so many minds and moods, that she may very well stand for twenty.
Your bet concerns a lady, then?
It would be great unthrift to tell you that, who have no curiosity.
Well, well, and you have told it me, though you are not aware of it.
O dear!—I beg pardon, gentlemen.—I knew not you were here—I came in search of Master Lawry. My lady is frightened to death about him,—but she does not know that I am come after him to this hotel,—O! she is in such a quandary; she did not know where to send me after him: for you know, gentlemen, a child may break his bones or come to mischief anywhere.
Nobody will deny that, Mrs. Flounce.
O lud, Sir Cameron! are you in this hotel? But you have a fine house in the neighbourhood, as the waiter tells me,—not that I inquired—I enters into no matters as don't belong to me.
If you had inquired, Mrs. Flounce, I should have taken it as a compliment.
And if your lady had desired you to inquire, it would have been taken as a compliment of double value.
She bid me inquire! how could you think of such a thing, Mr. Brightly, when she expressly forbade me to inquire anything about it?
And you are a woman of discretion, Mrs. Flounce, of very deep discretion. Still keep your lady's counsel as you do now, and you will deserve the best silk gown in her wardrobe.
And her best garnet brooch into the bargain.
Oh, what are silk gowns and brooches to me! Master Lawry! Master Lawry! That child is the plague of our lives. Is he in that there garden? where shall I find him?
You had better go to the fortune-teller, if there be such a person in the place; he may know about him as well as other stray goods.
No, no! I hates fortune-tellers; they have told me so many lies already.Good morning, gentlemen, I ax your pardon.—I have been very rude; shockingly rude indeed.
But you will both walk to my house as you proposed, and I shall have the pleasure of attending you.
Have the goodness to wait till we have given some orders about our luggage, and we are at your command.
Did not know that my house is in this neighbourhood.—Pretty innocence!—Has she changed plans again?—Does the wind set fair for a second venture?I might have known she was here by Franklin being so ready to come to me. That girl, Emma, stands between him and his wits. And these two fellows casting up in this corner so unexpectedly, what may this mean? A bet, forsooth! are they after her, too? But be canvassing or courtship the object, they sha'n't encompass me in their snares.
Now we are ready to follow you.[Exeunt.
No, no, sister! no work now! you promised I should have some skeins to hold.
And you shall hold them all, Lawry, when they are wanted. Am I to wind them before, only to amuse you, as one throws out a ball for the kitten? I must begin this ranunculus with one or other of these bright colours immediately.
And I know why you are in such a hurry.
Dost thou, master conjurer?
Ay, marry do I; for if you don't, Aunt Letty will come to choose the colour for you, and then it won't be begun for a week. O! here she is; I must get out of the way of her errands, and directions, and re-directions, as fast as I can. I'm sure, if I could keep them all in my head, the learning of Greek would be a joke to me.
Where art thou going, urchin? hast thou given my message to the coachman?
No, ma'am, but I'll do it immediately, in the very words you spoke. He must be at the back entry ten minutes before two.
I'll just give him the first message, Auntie, no more.
Impudent little runagate! that child must be put to school forthwith.
But here are my letters, and they will relieve me, I trust, from many perplexities.
Yes, my dear aunt, if they do not leave as many behind as they carry away.
Peace, child; thou art so thougthless that nothing is a perplexity to thee. (Looks at the letters lying on the table.) Ha! here is an answer to my application for the house. (Opens a letter and reads.)
And does the landlord agree to your terms?
Ye-s.
Then there is one difficulty surmounted.
Ye-s, so far surmounted; but I have been thinking further of it. The drawing-rooms are too large, and my dressing-room is too small, and there is no convenient closet for my curiosities and china.
And will you give it up, after all, just when he agrees to your terms?
Nay, I don't know that. If my own apartment were better, and room for my curiosities, and if the back staircase were not so miserably narrow, I should not hesitate for a moment.
But things are as they are, and cannot be altered; so you must either take the house, with its imperfections, or give it up.
Ay, there it is: he is so unreasonable as to desire an immediate answer. I wish that word immediate were expunged from the vocabulary. If I had time, I could write to Lady Trinkum about it, and likewise Mr. Changet, the best judge of houses in the world; but to commit myself at onceOh! what is to be done!—What seal is that you are examining so minutely?
Two gules reversed on a field azure.
Ha! from that quarter! at it again
Did you not expect a second proposal when your former treaty of marriage broke off because his fortune was deemed insufficient for your fashionable plans of expense?—for, by the unexpected death of his elder brother, some three months ago, that obstacle is removed.
Thou art quite right, it is a second proposal; and, oh! what shall I do? (Traversing the room in a disturbed manner.) I shall appear sordid—I shall appear mean—I shall appear mercenary in his eyes.
Not more so than when you declined his first proposal on that ground. You will now appear to him, not very sentimental, indeed, but consistent.
Oh! but I did not ostensibly decline his offer on that ground, though that was the true one.—What shall I do! Suffer him to think meanly of my motives; and give up all my plans too of living a distinguished single woman, in a house of my own,—the patroness of arts, the encourager of genius, the loadstar in society!—You know all this, my dear child,—you know what the wishes of my heart have been.
Indeed I knew that you spoke about it, but I did not know that you wished for it.
Ah! but I did—I thought I did. (Pacing backward and forward in an irresolute way; then stopping short.) And now, when this house, this most desirable house, may be had upon my own terms!
But you forget, my dear aunt, that it wants a closet for your curiosities, and that the back staircase is so miserably narrow.
Don't distract me, Emma: tell me what to do. How does it strike you? Would it not be betterO, no! that won't do, neither.—O that Lady Totterdown or Mrs. Siftall were here, that I might ask their advice!—What would you advise me to do?
The writer of that letter is not unreasonable enough to require an immediate answer: lay it aside for the present, and open the next. (Pointing to another letter.)
I am glad she has found time to answer me at last. You must listen to this, Emma; it regards the education of Lawry. Mrs. Overall is a woman of a deeply philosophical mind; and on such an important subject, I was anxious that she should give me her opinion,
The thing of all others she is most ready to give. And what is it?
"I have been prevented by many avocations from writing"I sha'n't read the apology, but pass on to the matter in question:—"Education of every kind has, till lately, proceeded upon a wrong principle. Every body taught the same things, without regard to talent or capacity. Should not a boy's instruction be adapted to his genius?"—She is very right there, Emma; you need not smile. There is good reason in what she says.—"If he has a turn for mathematics, would you make him a lawyer? If forensic eloquence, would you cram him with grammar and Greek? If for poetry, would you confine him to a counting-house? If for painting, would you entangle him in diplomacy? Apply all the force of tuition to his principal,—his leading talent, and you will make a distinguished man of him with little trouble."
And how shall we discover poor Lawry's talent, if playfulness and mischief be not ranked as natural endowments? Pray forgive me, aunt: I am too flippant.
Indeed, I think you are, child: listen to what follows:—"And how fortunate it is for your purpose that Dr. Crany, one of our most celebrated phrenologists, is in at present. Let him examine your nephew's head, and he will tell you at once what course to pursue."
Mr. Brightly, I refer to you.
And what is the matter in question?
To educate my nephew according to the bent of his genius. Is not that right?
Assuredly, when you can find it out.
Dr. Crany, the phrenologist, will do that for us.
Very willingly, I doubt not. I forgot what new lights philosophy throws on such mysteries now-a-days. Yes, by all means let the boy's head be examined. Does this little girl make a jest of it?—Yes, yes, let him be examined, and then you will be no longer undecided on the treatment of your little will o' the wisp?
To be sure that would be something gained.
Let us try for it, at least; I'll go to the doctor forthwith.
O no, no! not yet: you are too sudden, too hasty, Mr. Brightly. I must have more time to consider of it.
And let the doctor proceed on his tour, and repent when the opportunity is past.
Does he leave the place so soon?
I have heard so: this will be your only opportunity.
Go, then, go!—O how hasty and teasing these opportunities are!
Indeed, my dear aunt, you generally make them so.
The carriage is waiting, Ma'am.
Let it wait. It comes before the time.
Indeed, Ma'am, your coachman seldom makes that mistake. By my watch he is half an hour after it. (Looking at her watch.)
Come, come then!—Flounce! Flounce! (calling off the Stage), bring my shawl and bonnet. [Exeunt in a hurry.
And Miss Vane is only gone out for a short airing?
Yes, Sir Cameron; that is to say, if she keeps in the mind as when she set out. I never answers for more than that of any lady.
To be sure, Mrs. Flounce, your prudence is commendable. And since she may probably return so soon, I shall take the liberty of waiting in the parlour.
O! not there, Sir, if you please: you had better wait in the harbour yonder; the smell of all them roses and honeysuckles will delight you.
I thank you, Ma'am. I will, by your leave, go into the parlour, and smell the roses another time.
[Exit into the house.
Plague take him for a very moral of perversity! for he'll find Mr. Franklin in the parlour; and how many odd notions may come into his head the cunning one himself would not guess. For, dear me! he has a marvellous gift for making much out of nothing, as his valet at the hall tells me.—He's perversity personified; for if one wants him to turn to the right hand, for that very reason he turns to the left. [Exit.
Did I not see a man go hastily into that opposite door?—I am not the only person, I apprehend, who is waiting the return of the ladies. And my lady's maid too; she is no novice in her calling.—"O, Sir! had you not better wait in the harbour yonder, and smell to the roses?" Well, well, what is all this to me? I prefer her, I fear, with all her follies, to any other woman; but, thank God! I am still free: I have not committed myself. She is coming: I hear voices in the hall—her own voice.—Why should a voice sound so sweet which so often repeats silly things?
Good morning, Sir Cameron. It is very good in you to come so early to see us. How unexpected the pleasure of meeting you here!
To show my bodily presence two miles from my own house is not surely very wonderful, though it may be unexpected. However, I will not mortify my vanity so far as to suppose it both unexpected and unwelcome.
How ridiculously grave you look! How should one know how far your house is from this town?
I'll answer you that question, if you will tell me in return, how long this place is to have the honour of harbouring so charming a visiter.
How all the world seem leagued to embarrass one with direct queries! My plans are not yet settled, and I don't know how long I may stay. The lease of a house requires some consideration.
And you will not stint it on that point, I know. But the lease of a house puts deeds, and bonds, and contracts of another kind into one's thoughts: I hope you will not dash any presumptuous hope which a poor bachelor like myself may have entertained, by owning a matrimonial plan in connection with the other.
A matrimonial plan! What has a single woman, who has entered into her thirty-second year, to do with matrimonial plans?
When the spirit and bloom of five-and-twenty brighten a lady's countenance, I never think of her age.—Well then, matrimony has nothing to do with it?
No, nothing at all: my house, that is to say, if I do take the lease, will be a cheerful spinster's house, where literati will assemble, amateurs sit in council, curiosities be examined, poems read, and all the bon-mots of the town be repeated; if I can induce the learned and refined to honour with their society such a humble individual as myself.
What delightful intercourse!—with not one word of scandal required to give it zest.
Not one word.
And this charming arrangement is determined upon?
Absolutely.
And woe worth the selfish man who should seek to turn aside your mind from such a refined speculation! He would surely deserve condign punishment.
Nay, that were judging too uncharitably. He might give one an opportunity of proving the strength of one's resolution, without incurring severe censure.
But what if he should prove the weakness of it: would he not then deserve to be called a very selfish fellow?
I will give hard names to nobody: and I must ask your opinion of another affair, if you will have the goodness to favour me with it.—What had I better do in regard to my little idle nephew? I should like to give him a good education; for, idle as he is, he is clever enough: and I should like to avoid all fallacious and useless modes of tuition. I have been advised to have his head examined by the famous phrenologist who is now in the place; will you do me the favour to be present?
I shall have the honour to obey your summons whenever you please.
Your friends, Brightly and Thornhill, have also promised to be present, and here they come, opportunely.
Away with you, Kunliffe, if you would not be beset by half a dozen of ladies of ton, who have laid their heads together to oblige you to give them a fête-champêtre in your park. They know that you are here; and I have got the start of them only a few paces.
Thank you! thank you! I hear their voices without; and I would not encounter the clamour of that beldame and her train for the best buck in my park.
Ho, Sir Cameron! stop the fugitive. (Catching hold of his sleeve.) You shan't escape till you have heard my speech, as the delegate of all the fair ladies in . Your park, they bid me say, is fairy ground; and they request to be its happy fairies for one day, to dance in its glades, andand, I forget the rest. O yes! I am enjoined to say
Nay, my good Madam; sweet as the sound of your voice may be in my ears, I will trouble you to say no more; your request is granted.
O how delightfully ready!
The day and the hour, Sir Cameron?
No, no! this is but a subterfuge; you must name it yourself.
Pardon me, ladies, pardon me! Miss Vane will fix the time. I am obliged to attend an appointment.—Good morning,—excuse me; good morning.
[Hurries away and exit.
He is laughing at us; I told you it would be so.
But we 'll follow him: he must not escape so.
It would require more courage than our friend possesses to keep his ground as a bachelor lord of the manor, near a watering place like this. But what think ye of our bet? There is a life and hilarity in his countenance which assures me your paddock will soon become the orchard-ground of a certain worthy neighbour of yours; I see it very clearly, with all its fruit trees in blossom.
We are all sanguine enough where our own advantage is concerned: I see your beautiful Rembrandt as clearly on the walls of my library; and all the connoisseurs of the county peeping at it through their fingers. But let us follow the game.
[Exeunt.
The coast is clear at last. O, if I could catch a glimpse of her now! And here she comes, most fortunately, as if she knew I was waiting for her.
Ah, George! Why must I chide you for coming?
And do you chide me?
I ought to do it; you know very well that I ought.
Yes, to come here is foolish: to listen to the sound of your voice; to catch a glimpse of your figure through the shrubs as you play with your brother in the garden; to follow your carriage with mine eyes, and feel its very track on the sand like a talisman or charm to the fancy, is all very foolish, but a folly that is incorrigible.
We must try, however: consider well that my fortune is very small.
I cannot consider this; but I ought to consider that my own is still smaller.
And whatever I have, I shall divide with my brother; for he is a posthumous child, and has not one farthing of his own.
I should deserve to be a slave in the galleys, could I wish thee to be one jot less generous.
With prospects so precarious and so distant, ought we to be often together, or to enter into any engagement?
As far as incessant application to my profession can make them less precarious, I will toil;—no, no, I may not call it toil;—the patriarch's servitude for her whom he loved was sweet to him, and seemed but a few days.
I dare not enter into engagements.
Thou shalt not; I will be engaged and thou shalt be free.
That is impossible: we may both change; I cannot injure thee so far.
How injure me? I will be the happier all my life for having loved thee, if I could only once know that I had ever been dear to thee: I would not change such happiness to—to—
To be made Chancellor of England.
How very easy it would be to play the eavesdropper at this interesting moment, when things might be spoken not unwelcome to a curious ear.—Thou art a happy fellow to engage such unbroken attention from such an auditor.—You are both too grave to answer me. Yet I would have you to know, that I have been made a confidant in affairs of the heart, ere now.
Conceal nothing from Sir Cameron, but permit me to retire.
[Exit.
She whispered in your ear as she went.
"Conceal nothing from Sir Cameron" were the words.
Gentle, confiding creature! and wilt thou obey her? thou wilt not. Thou wilt just tell me what is perfectly convenient, and no more.
Nay, nay, cousin; you wrong me. I will obey her thoroughly, and I sha'n't tire you with a long story neither.
Well, then, you shall walk home with me, and tell it by the way.
I have left my hat in the little room, I'll join you immediately.
[Exit.
Kind, simple, confiding creatures! He, too, so frank and open! I love them both: ay, and I will behave nobly to them.
I must first run to the post-office for a letter I expect to receive; but don't stop for me; I'll join you at the end of the street.
You have no love correspondence in any other quarter, I hope.
How can your mind harbour such a thought?
The mind of one who has lived long in the world is often forced to give harbour to many an unwelcome thought.
The letter I expect is from no fair lady, but from worthy Mr. Harding.
Ha! what have you to do with Mr. Harding?
I have had to do with him lately as a solicitor.
And on some serious business, no doubt.
Serious enough for me;—the piecing up of all the rags and remnants of that poor garment, my patrimony, that my shoulders may not be entirely bare, till my own industry shall earn for me another covering. [Exit.
Harding his solicitor! Ha, ha! I like not this. Can it be only concerning his own little remnants of property!It may be so; I will not doubt his word.—I hate all unreasonable suspicion.I shall hear his story, and I shall touch upon the subject of Harding afterwards. I shall watch his looks; and if he really know any thing of the flaw in that bungled deed, I shall find it out.
[Exit.
THE MATCH.
ACT I.
SCENE I.—A low Parlour in a Lodging-house, with a Glass-door in the bottom of the Stage, opening into a Garden.
Enter Brightly and Thornhill.
BRIGHTLY (after surveying the room).
THORNHILL.
BRIGHTLY.
THORNHILL.
BRIGHTLY.
THORNHILL.
BRIGHTLY.
THORNHILL.
BRIGHTLY.
THORNHILL.
BRIGHTLY.
THORNHILL.
[Master Lawry, who appears in the garden with a bow and arrow in his hand, discharges his arrow through the glass-door, and breaks one of the panes.]
BRIGHTLY.
He sha'n't escape, however. (Opens the window, runs after him, and returns dragging in Lawry by the collar). You need not struggle with me, little master; I'll keep you fast. Why did you hit the window with your arrow?
LAWRY.
BRIGHTLY.
LAWRY.
BRIGHTLY.
LAWRY.
THORNHILL.
BRIGHTLY.
LAWRY.
BRIGHTLY.
LAWRY.
THORNHILL.
LAWRY.
THORNHILL.
LAWRY.
THORNHILL.
LAWRY.
BRIGHTLY.
LAWRY.
BRIGHTLY.
LAWRY.
BRIGHTLY.
(Leads Lawry into the garden, where he disappears amongst the bushes, then returning to the front.)
THORNHILL.
BRIGHTLY.
THORNHILL (aside).
BRIGHTLY.
THORNHILL.
BRIGHTLY.
THORNHILL.
BRIGHTLY.
THORNHILL.
BRIGHTLY.
Enter Sir Cameron Kunliffe.
SIR CAMERON.
BRIGHTLY.
SIR CAMERON.
THORNHILL.
SIR CAMERON.
THORNHILL.
BRIGHTLY.
SIR CAMERON.
THORNHILL.
SIR CAMERON.
BRIGHTLY.
SIR CAMERON.
BRIGHTLY.
SIR CAMERON.
THORNHILL.
SIR CAMERON.
BRIGHTLY.
SIR CAMERON.
Enter Mrs. Flounce, coming forward very briskly, and then pretending to draw back in confusion.
FLOUNCE.
SIR CAMERON.
FLOUNCE.
SIR CAMERON.
BRIGHTLY.
FLOUNCE.
BRIGHTLY.
THORNHILL.
FLOUNCE.
BRIGHTLY.
FLOUNCE.
[Exit, curtseying herself away to the door.
SIR CAMERON.
THORNHILL.
[Exeunt Brightly and Thornhill.
SIR CAMERON (alone).
Re-enter Brightly and Thornhill.
BRIGHTLY.
SCENE II.
An Apartment in Miss Vane's House.
Enter Emma, with a small embroidering frame in her hand, which she puts upon the table, followed by Lawry carrying a work-bag. She then sits down to her work.
LAWRY.
EMMA.
LAWRY.
EMMA.
LAWRY.
Enter Latitia (catching hold of Lawry as he tries to pass).
LATITIA.
LAWRY.
LATITIA.
No, not quite so soon. (To Emma.) Shall I say half-past two, my dear, or a quarter before three?—Perhaps that maybe too late.—Tell him half-past two, unless he should
LAWRY.
[Breaks from her and exit.
LATITIA.
Enter a Servant with letters.
EMMA.
LATITIA.
EMMA.
LATITIA (in a hesitating slow drawl).
EMMA.
LATITIA (as before).
EMMA.
LATITIA.
EMMA.
LATITIA.
EMMA.
LATITIA (eagerly).
EMMA.
LATITIA (snatching the letter from her hand, and reading it eagerly).
EMMA.
LATITIA.
EMMA.
LATITIA.
EMMA.
LATITIA.
EMMA.
LATITIA (opening it).
EMMA.
LATITIA (reading).
EMMA (laughing heartily).
LATITIA.
Enter Brightly.
BRIGHTLY.
LATITIA.
BRIGHTLY.
LATITIA.
BRIGHTLY.
EMMA.
BRIGHTLY.
LATITIA (running after him as he is going out).
BRIGHTLY.
LATITIA.
BRIGHTLY.
LATITIA.
EMMA.
[Exit Brightly.
Enter a Servant.
SERVANT.
LATITIA.
EMMA.
LATITIA.
SCENE III.
Court before Latitia's House.
Enter Sir Cameron Kunliffe and Mrs. Flounce, speaking as they enter.
SIR CAMERON.
FLOUNCE.
SIR CAMERON.
FLOUNCE.
SIR CAMERON.
[Exit into the house.
FLOUNCE.
SCENE IV.
The Parlour.
Enter Sir Cameron, starting back as he enters.
SIR CAMERON.
Enter Latitia.
LATITIA.
SIR CAMERON.
LATITIA.
SIR CAMERON.
LATITIA.
SIR CAMERON.
LATITIA.
SIR CAMERON.
LATITIA.
SIR CAMERON.
LATITIA.
SIR CAMERON.
LATITIA.
SIR CAMERON.
LATITIA.
SIR CAMERON.
LATITIA.
SIR CAMERON.
LATITIA.
Enter Brightly and Thornhill.
BRIGHTLY.
SIR CAMERON.
Enter three Ladies, as he is about to escape.
FIRST LADY.
SIR CAMERON.
SECOND LADY.
FIRST LADY.
SIR CAMERON.
The day and the hour which this lady (pointing to Latitia) will do me the favour to name.
FIRST LADY.
SIR CAMERON.
[Hurries away and exit.
THIRD LADY.
FIRST LADY.
[Exeunt Ladies.
Manent Brightly and Thornhill.
BRIGHTLY.
THORNHILL.
[Exeunt.
[As the last characters disappear, Franklin is seen peeping out from the inner room, and then comes forward.]
FRANKLIN.
Enter Emma.
Dear Emma! I have been secreted in that closet while Sir Cameron, and your aunt, and a crowd of other visiters have been here in succession, which appeared as if it never would end. Now the hurly burly is over, and I am rewarded for my patience.
EMMA.
FRANKLIN.
EMMA.
FRANKLIN.
EMMA.
FRANKLIN.
EMMA.
FRANKLIN.
EMMA.
FRANKLIN.
EMMA.
FRANKLIN.
EMMA.
FRANKLIN.
EMMA.
Enter Sir Cameron behind, and observing them in earnest discourse, coughs loud several times to give them notice of his presence, without effect, and then comes forward.
SIR CAMERON.
EMMA (aside to Franklin).
[Exit.
SIR CAMERON.
FRANKLIN.
SIR CAMERON.
FRANKLIN.
SIR CAMERON.
FRANKLIN.
[Exit.
SIR CAMERON (alone).
Re-enter Franklin with his hat.
FRANKLIN.
SIR CAMERON.
FRANKLIN.
SIR CAMERON.
FRANKLIN.
SIR CAMERON.
FRANKLIN.
SIR CAMERON.
FRANKLIN.
SIR CAMERON (alone).
[Exit.