“She is not here,” said Mrs. Vane, who remembered all the names perfectly well. “There is one charming lady among our guests, her face took me in a moment; but she is a titled lady. There is no Mrs. Woffington among them.”
“Strange!” replied Triplet; “she was to be here; and, in fact, that is why I expedited these lines in her honor.”
“In her honor, sir?”
“Yes, madam. Allow me:
'Brights being, thou whose radiant brow—'”
“No! no! I don't care to hear them now, for I don't know the lady.”
“Well, madam, but at least you have seen her act?”
“Act! you don't mean all this is for an actress?”
“An actress? The actress! And you have never seen her act? What a pleasure you have to come! To see her act is a privilege; but to act with her, as I once did! But she does not remember that, nor shall I remind her, madam,” said Triplet sternly. “On that occasion I was hissed, owing to circumstances which, for the credit of our common nature, I suppress.”
“What! are you an actor too? You are everything.”