“Helm's a-lee,” he said. “Ready about, and off we go on another tack, for hang me if I see anything of guilt on their faces, bless 'em! Come, Mr. Garrick, you shall interpret them for me. Let me into the secret which you say you have read as if it was a book.”
Susy gave a sharp cry.
“The needle!” she said. “That is the third time it has pricked me since morning.”
“Pay no attention to her, sir,” cried Garrick. “It was a feint on her part to put us off the scent of the secret.”
“In heaven's name, then, let us have it,” cried Jim.
“If you will have it, here it is,” said Garrick. “Your three sisters, Mr. Burney, are contemplating applying to Mrs. Montagu to be admitted to the freedom and the livery of the Society of Bluestockings. That is why they thought it akin to sacrilege for me to introduce the lady's name into a jest. Their blush was but a reflex of their guilty intention.”
“Indeed, Mr. Garrick, you go too far sometimes,” said Mrs. Burney. “Mrs. Montagu is a worthy lady, and our girls respect her too highly to fancy that they have any qualification to be received into her literary set.”
“Faith, Madam, I know my duty too well, I hope, to accuse any of the Miss Burneys of possessing literary qualities,” said Garrick. “But what I do say is that if such qualities as they possess were to be introduced into Mrs. Montagu's set, it would quickly become the most popular drawing-room in town. The idea of thinking that any young woman would go to the trouble of writing a book when she can reach the heart of mankind so much more easily by blushing over the breast of a shirt! Continue stitching and doing your own blushing, dear children, and you will never give anyone cause to blush for you.”
He bowed elaborately to each of them in turn and afterward to Mrs. Burney, and made a most effective exit. He always knew when he should go, and never failed to leave a few fragrant phrases behind him, as though he had dropped a bunch of roses for the girls to cherish.
“Where should we be without Mr. Garrick?” said James, when he had seen the actor to the door and returned to the work-room.