“I know well that there are a good many ladies who would give all that they possess for the chance of acting with Mr. O'Brien, and you are among the number, my dear,” laughed Lady Sarah.
“I dare not—I dare not. And yet——” murmured the other girl.
Sir Francis had been lost in thought while the two had been bickering over the body of O'Brien. He had walked across the room and seated himself for some moments. Now he rose and held up a finger.
“Ladies, this is a serious matter for all of us,” he said. And he spoke the truth to a greater depth than he was aware of. “'Tis a very serious matter. If we get Mr. O'Brien to play the part, the piece will be the greatest success of the day. If we fail to get him, our theatricals will be damned to a certainty. Lady Susan, will you consent to play with him if his name does not appear upon the bill?”
“But every one would know Mr. O'Brien,” she faltered, after a pause that was overcharged with excitement.
“Yes, in fact; but no one will have official cognizance of him, and, as you must know, in these matters of etiquette everything depends upon official cognizance.”
“My father—”
“His lordship will have no locus standi in the case. He cannot take notice of an act that is not officially recognisable,” suggested Sir Francis, the sophist.
“If you assure me—— But is't true that Mr. O'Brien only ceased to become a gentleman when he became an actor?” said Lady Susan.
“I have not heard that he relinquished the one part when he took up the other,” said Sir Francis. “I wonder that you have not met him at the houses of some of our friends—he is more popular even than Mr. Garrick. The family of O'Brien——”