The old colonel rose from his seat. ‘I can see very plainly that I am wasting both your time and my own.—I suppose you will have to do a little “tumbling” presently?’
‘I do not make my first entrance till the third act. If you will go in front, you can have my box.’ Montmorency rang the bell as he spoke, and when the call-boy appeared, directed him to show his visitor into box A.
The actor was indulging in a sigh of relief, when a head appeared at the half-closed door, and a voice exclaimed: ‘May I come in?’
Montmorency bounded from his chair as he seized hold of the extended hand and drew the owner into the room. The new-comer was a young man of about the same age as the actor, and was habited in modern evening dress. Montmorency wrung the hand of his friend Vallance, and forced him into a seat. ‘Delighted to see you, Jack! Have a weed and a seltzer?’
In a few seconds the two young men were similarly occupied, and immersed in the consumption of a couple of choice Partagas.
The actor opened the ball. ‘You must have met an elderly party in the passage. That was the governor. He is very irate because I won’t fall in love by word of command, and marry Miss Anstruther, whom I have never seen.—By-the-bye, you have seen her. What is she like?’
‘A lovely girl,’ replied Vallance. ‘I met her at a ball at Scarborough, soon after her arrival from the West Indies. Faith, Harry, you might do worse.’
‘And might do better; eh, Jack? But your ideas of beauty are so opposite to mine, as I remember of old. Now, if you wish to see a perfect vision of loveliness, go in front and see Fonblanque, the Lady Teazle of to-night.’
‘You mean Miss Fonblanque, I presume?’
‘Exactly. The prefix “Miss” is frequently omitted in theatrical parlance. She is bewitching!’