Her worst apprehension of results in connection with the theatrical
enterprise had foreboded levity of conduct with some of the
gentlemen--she had not bargained for this. Magdalen, in the capacity of
a thoughtless girl, was comparatively easy to deal with. Magdalen, in
the character of a born actress, threatened serious future difficulties.
The rehearsal proceeded. Lucy returned to the stage for her scenes in
the second act (the last in which she appears) with Sir Lucius and Fag.
Here, again, Magdalen's inexperience betrayed itself--and here once more
her resolution in attacking and conquering her own mistakes astonished
everybody. "Bravo!" cried the gentlemen behind the scenes, as she
steadily trampled down one blunder after another. "Ridiculous!" said the
ladies, "with such a small part as hers." "Heaven forgive me!" thought
Miss. Garth, coming round unwillingly to the general opinion. "I almost
wish we were Papists, and I had a convent to put her in to-morrow."
One of Mr. Marrable's servants entered the theater as that desperate
aspiration escaped the governess. She instantly sent the man behind the
scene with a message: "Miss Vanstone has done her part in the rehearsal;
request her to come here and sit by me.
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