_ "Yes" (sadly), "I find him changed."
_Pomander._ "Changed! Transformed. He is now the prop of the
'Cocoa-Tree,' the star of Ranelagh, the Lauzun of the green-room."
_Mabel._ "The green-room! Where is that? You mean kindly, sir; but you
make me unhappy."
_Pomander._ "The green-room, my dear madam, is the bower where houris put
off their wings, and goddesses become dowdies; where Lady Macbeth weeps
over her lap-dog, dead from repletion; and Belvidera soothes her broken
heart with a dozen of oysters. In a word, it is the place where actors
and actresses become men and women, and act their own parts with skill,
instead of a poet's clumsily."
_Mabel._ "Actors! actresses! Does Mr. Vane frequent such--"
_Pomander._ "He has earned in six months a reputation many a fine
gentleman would give his ears for. Not a scandalous journal his initials
have not figured in; not an actress of reputation gossip has not given
him for a conquest."
"How dare you say this to me?" cried Mrs. Vane, with a sudden flash of
indignation, and then the tears streamed over her lovely cheeks; and even
a Pomander might have forborne to torture her so; but Sir Charles had no
mercy.
"You would he sure to learn it," said he; "and with malicious additions.
It is better to hear the truth from a friend."
"A friend? He is no friend to a house who calumniates the husband to the
wife.
Pages:
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170