Vallance shakes his head. ‘Have a care, Harry. It would be a pity if you allied yourself with some unknown adventuress, after refusing the rich Miss Anstruther.’
‘Well, to be candid, Jack, I am afraid of myself. If I did not constantly call to my mind the fact that I am a Stanley, I should speedily succumb to the charms of the divine Fonblanque, so there is some benefit arising from birth after all.’
‘And how long do you mean to pursue this mad freak of yours?’ inquired Vallance.
‘Till I hear on good authority that the troublesome Miss Anstruther is engaged, or married.’
‘And then?’
‘Why, then I quit the mimic stage as suddenly as I entered upon it.’
‘Meanwhile!’ ejaculated Vallance with an incredulous smile.
‘Meanwhile,’ replied Montmorency loftily, ‘I contribute to the “gaiety of nations,” as Johnson said of Garrick; and therefore consider myself a far better member of society than a successful general, who has killed so many hundreds of his fellow-mortals; or a lawyer, who has set whole families by the ears in order to fill his pockets; or a doctor, who, as Tobin says, spends the greater part of his time in writing death-warrants in Latin.’
Vallance examined his finger-nails for a few seconds, and after an embarrassing pause, said: ‘Harry, I am about to make a confession.’
‘I cannot promise you absolution, Jack.’