Of these Triplet
debarrassed her.
"Sit down, madam;" and he hastily drew a chair so that her back was to
the picture.
She was pale, and trembled a little. She hid her face in her hands a
moment, then, recovering her courage, "she begged Mr. Triplet to pardon
her for coming to him. He had inspired her with confidence," she said;
"he had offered her his services, and so she had come to him, for she had
no other friend to aid her in her sore distress." She might have added,
that with the tact of her sex she had read Triplet to the bottom, and
came to him, as she would to a benevolent, muscular old woman.
Triplet's natural impulse was to repeat most warmly his offers of
service. He did so; and then, conscious of the picture, had a misgiving.
"Dear Mr. Triplet," began Mrs. Vane, "you know this person, Mrs.
Woffington?"
"Yes, madam," replied Triplet, lowering his eyes, "I am honored by her
acquaintance."
"You will take me to the theater where she acts?"
"Yes, madam; to the boxes, I presume?"
"No! oh, no! How could I bear that? To the place where the actors and
actresses are."
Triplet demurred. This would be courting that very collision, the dread
of which even now oppressed him.
At the first faint sign of resistance she began to supplicate him, as if
he was some great, stern tyrant.
"Oh, you must not, you cannot refuse me.
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