Prince Fortunatus. Black William

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      "Vouchsafe, sweet maid, to hear a wretched swain,

      Who, lost in wonder, hugs the pleasing chain:

      For you in sighs I hail the rising day,

      To you at eve I sing the lovesick lay;

      Then take my love, my homage as your due—

      [Aside.

      The Devil's in her, if all this won't do."

      It must be confessed that the pretty and smiling and blushing Miss Georgie Lestrange looked just a little self-conscious as she had to listen to this extremely frank declaration; but she had the part of the coquettish Pastora to play; and Pastora, as soon as she discovers that Damon has no thought of marriage, naturally declines to have anything to do with him. And here came in the duet which had first suggested this escapade:

      "You say at your feet that I wept in despair,

      And vow'd that no angel was ever so fair;

      How could you believe all the nonsense I spoke?

      What know we of angels? I meant it in joke,

      I meant it in joke;

      What know we of angels? I meant it in joke."

      "DAMON.

      From flow'r to flow'r, his joy to change,

      Flits yonder wanton bee;

      From fair to fair thus will I range,

      And I'll be ever free.

      From fair to fair thus will I range,

      And I'll be ever free.

      "PASTORA.

      You little birds attentive view,

      That hop from tree to tree;

      I'll copy them, I'll copy you,

      For I'll be ever free.

      "DUETTO.

      Then let's divide to east and west

      Since we shall ne'er agree;

      And try who keeps their promise best

      And who's the longest free.

      Let's try who keeps their promise best

      And who's the longest free."

      And again the audience made bold to clap their hands; for Miss Georgie Lestrange, despite her self-depreciation, sang very well indeed; and of course Lionel Moore knew how to moderate his voice, so that the combination was entirely pleasing. The further progress of the little comedy needs not to be described here; it has only to be said that the injured Laura is in the end restored to her repentant lover; and that a final duet between her and Damon closes the piece with the most praiseworthy sentiments:

      "For their honor and faith be our virgins renown'd,

      Nor false to his vows one young shepherd he found;

      Be their moments all guided by virtue and truth,

      To preserve in their age what they gain'd in their youth,

      To preserve in their age what they gain'd in their youth."

      Lord Rockminster rose from his chair, stretched his long legs, and threw away his cigarette.

      "Very well done," said he, slowly. "Congratulate all of you."

      "This is the first time I ever saw Rockminster sit out a morning performance," observed Percy Lestrange, with a playful grin.

      "As for you young things," the mistress of the house said to her girl-guests, as they were all trooping in by the French windows again, "you must hurry home and get in-doors before the servants are up. I don't want this frolic to be talked about all over the town."

      "A frolic, indeed!" Miss Georgie protested, as her brother was putting her cloak round her shoulders. "I don't call it a frolic at all. I call it very serious business; and I'm looking forward to winning the deepest gratitude of the English public—or at least as much of the English public as you can cram into your garden, my dear."

      Then, as soon as the light wraps and dust-coats had been distributed and donned, the members of the gay little party said good-bye to Lady Adela in the front hall, and went down the carriage sweep to the gate. Here there was a division; for the Lestranges were going north by Holland Lane to Notting Hill; while Lord Rockminster and his two sisters, making for Palace Gardens Terrace, walked with Lionel Moore only as far as Campden Hill Road; thereafter he pursued his journey to Piccadilly alone.

      And even now London was not fully awake, though the sun was touching the topmost branches of the trees, and here and there a high window, struck by the level rays, flashed back a gleam of gold. In this neighborhood the thoroughfares were quite deserted; silence reigned over those sleeping houses; the air was sweet and cool; now and again a stirring of wind brought a scent of summer—blossom from within the garden-enclosures. It is true that when he got down into Kensington Road he found a long procession of wagons slowly making their way into the great city; but this dull, drowsy noise was not ungrateful; in much content and idly he walked away eastward, looking in from time to time at the beautiful greensward of Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. He was in no hurry. He liked the stillness, the gracious coolness and quietude of the morning, after the hot and feverish nights at the theatre. When at length he reached his lodging in Piccadilly, let himself in with his latch-key, and went up-stairs to his rooms, he did not go to bed at once. He drew an easy-chair to the front window, threw himself into it, lit a cigarette, and stared absently across to the branching elms and grassy undulations of the Green Park. Perhaps he was thinking of the pretty, fantastic little comedy that had just been performed up in that garden at Campden Hill—like some dream-picture out of Boccaccio. And if he chanced to recall the fact that the actor who originally played the part of Damon, at Drury Lane, some hundred and forty years ago, married in real life an earl's daughter, that was but a passing fancy. Of Lord Fareborough's three daughters, it was neither Lady Sybil nor Lady Rosamund, it was the married sister, Lady Adela Cunyngham, who had constituted herself his particular friend.

CHAPTER II.

       Table of Contents

      THE GREAT GOD PAN.

      Late as he went to bed, sleep did not long detain him, for, in his own happy-go-lucky, troubadour sort of life, he was one of the most occupied of men even in this great, hurrying, bustling capital of the world. As soon as he had donned his dressing-gown and come into the sitting-room, he swallowed a cup of coffee that was waiting for him, and then, to make sure that unholy hours and cigarettes had not hurt his voice, СКАЧАТЬ