“Then I 'll give you a chance of being present at a better scene than that,” said Blake.
“What do you mean, Jimmy?” asked Moriarty.
“I mean to bring you with me to pay a visit to Mrs. Siddons this very minute.”
“'T is joking you are, Jimmy?”
“Oh, the devil a joke, ma bouchai! Man alive, can't you see that the fun is only beginning? We'll go to her in a body and make it out that she has insulted a friend of ours by attributing false motives to him, and that her husband must come out to the Park in the morning.”
“That's carrying a joke a bit too far,” said Mr. Blenerhassett. “I'll not join in with you there.”
“Nobody axed ye, sir,” said Blake. “There are three of us here without you, and that's enough for our purpose.”
“If Mr. Siddons kicks you into the street, or if Sally treats you as she did that poor devil in the tavern, 't is served right that you'll be,” said Blenerhassett, walking off.
“We'll have a scene with Sarah Siddons for our trouble, at any rate,” laughed Blake.
The three young men who remained when the more scrupulous youth had departed, went together to Mrs. Siddons' lodgings. They understood more than Dionysius did about the art of obtaining admittance when only a portress stood in the way—a squeeze, a kiss, and a crown combined to make the maid take a lenient view of the consequences of permitting them to go up the stairs.