Esther, who had been disappointed that her stepmother had not yet said a word about the concert of the previous night given by the Dowager Duchess of Portland, at which she and her husband had performed, brightened up at her brother’s question.
“The concert was well enough,” she replied with an affectation of carelessness. “’Twas no better than many that have taken place under this roof. Her Grace and her grandees were very kind to us—we had enough plaudits to turn the head of Gabrielli herself.”
“Oh, the Gabrielli’s head has been turned so frequently that one can never tell when it sits straight on her shoulders,” said James.
“She was very civil to us last evening,” said Esther. “Indeed, she was civil to everyone until the enchanter Rauzzini sang the solo from Piramo e Tisbe and swept the company off their feet. The poor Gabrielli had no chance against Rauzzini.”
“Especially in a company that numbered many ladies,” said James, with a laugh. “You remember what Sir Joshua told us that Dr. Goldsmith had once said of Johnson?—that in his argument he was like the highwayman: when his pistol missed fire he knocked one down with the butt.”
“I heard that upon one occasion Dr. Johnson knocked a man down with a heavy book, but I cannot imagine his ever firing a pistol,” remarked Mrs. Burney, who had been used, when the wife of a straightforward merchant of Lynn, to take every statement literally, and had not yet become accustomed to the involved mode of speaking of the brilliant young Burneys.
“You mean that Rauzzini—I don’t quite perceive what you do mean by your reference to Dr. Goldsmith’s apt humour,” said Esther.
“I only mean that among such a company as assembled at the Duchess’s, if he missed fire with his singing, he glanced around with those dark eyes of his and the ladies went down before him by the score,” replied James. “Do not I speak the truth, Fanny?” he added, turning quickly to where Fanny was searching with her short-sighted eyes close to her work-basket for some material that seemed to be missing.
But she had clearly heard her brother’s question, for she did not need to raise her head or to ask him to repeat it.
“Oh, we are all the slaves of the nobil’ signor,” she said, and continued her search in the basket.