“What say you, madam?” cries the domino, “will you go with the colonel? I assure you, you have mistaken your man, for he is no less a person than the great Colonel James himself.”
{Illustration: Booth between the blue domino and a Shepherdess.}
“No wonder, then, that Mr. Booth gives him his choice of us; it is the proper office of a caterer, in which capacity Mr. Booth hath, I am told, the honour to serve the noble colonel.”
“Much good may it do you with your ladies!” said James; “I will go in pursuit of better game.” At which words he walked off.
“You are a true sportsman,” cries the shepherdess; “for your only pleasure, I believe, lies in the pursuit.”
“Do you know the gentleman, madam?” cries the domino.
“Who doth not know him?” answered the shepherdess.
“What is his character?” cries the domino; “for, though I have jested with him, I only know him by sight.”
“I know nothing very particular in his character,” cries the shepherdess. “He gets every handsome woman he can, and so they do all.”
“I suppose then he is not married?” said the domino.