" The servant returned with
a polite apology: "Miss Vanstone's kind love, and she begs to be
excused--she's prompting Mr. Clare." She prompted him to such purpose
that he actually got through his part. The performances of the
other gentlemen were obtrusively imbecile. Frank was just one degree
better--he was modestly incapable; and he gained by comparison. "Thanks
to Miss Vanstone," observed the manager, who had heard the prompting.
"She pulled him through. We shall be flat enough at night, when the drop
falls on the second act, and the audience have seen the last of her.
It's a thousand pities she hasn't got a better part!"
"It's a thousand mercies she's no more to do than she has," muttered
Miss Garth, overhearing him. "As things are, the people can't well turn
her head with applause. She's out of the play in the second act--that's
one comfort!"
No well-regulated mind ever draws its inferences in a hurry; Miss
Garth's mind was well regulated; therefore, logically speaking,
Miss Garth ought to have been superior to the weakness of rushing at
conclusions. She had committed that error, nevertheless, under present
circumstances. In plainer terms, the consoling reflection which had just
occurred to her assumed that the play had by this time survived all its
disasters, and entered on its long-deferred career of success.
Pages:
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99