Godolphin | Page 9

cold.
"So that gentleman, so free and easy in his manners, is not your
husband?"
"Heaven forbid! Do you think I should be so gay if he were? But, pooh!
what can you know of married life? No!" she continued, with a pretty
air of mock dignity; "I am the Belvidera, the Calista, of the company;
above all control, all husbanding, and reaping thirty-three shillings a
week."
"But are you above lovers as well as husbands?" asked Percy with a
rakish air, borrowed from Saville.
"Bless the boy! No: but then my lovers must be at least as tall, and at
least as rich, and, I am afraid, at least as old, as myself."
"Don't frighten yourself, my dear," returned Percy; "I was not about to
make love to you."

"Were you not? Yes, you were, and you know it. But why will you not
sup with us?"
"Why not, indeed?" thought Percy, as the idea, thus more enticingly put
than it was at first, pressed upon him. "If you ask me," he said, "I will."
"I do ask you, then," said the actress; and here the hero of the company
turned abruptly round with a theatrical start, and exclaimed, "To sup or
not to sup? that is the question."
"To sup, sir," said Godolphin.
"Very well! I am glad to hear it. Had you not better mount and rest
yourself in the coach? You can take my place--I am studying a new part.
We have two miles farther to B---- yet."
Percy accepted the invitation, and was soon by the side of the pretty
actress. The horses broke into a slow trot, and thus delighted with his
adventure, the son of the ascetic Godolphin, the pupil of the courtly
Saville, entered the town of B----, and commenced his first independent
campaign in the great world.

CHAPTER V.
THE MUMMERS.--GODOLPHIN IN LOVE.--THE EFFECT OF
FANNY MILLINGER'S ACTING UPON HIM.--THE TWO
OFFERS.--GODOLPHIN QUITS THE PLAYERS.
Our travellers stopped at the first inn in the outskirts of the town. Here
they were shown into a large room on the ground-floor, sanded, with a
long table in the centre; and, before the supper was served, Percy had
leisure to examine all the companions with whom he had associated
himself.
In the first place, there was an old gentleman, of the age of sixty-three,
in a bob-wig, and inclined to be stout, who always played the lover. He
was equally excellent in the pensive Romeo and the bustling Rapid. He

had an ill way of talking off the stage, partly because he had lost all his
front teeth: a circumstance which made him avoid, in general, those
parts in which he had to force a great deal of laughter. Next, there was a
little girl, of about fourteen, who played angels, fairies, and, at a pinch,
was very effective as an old woman. Thirdly, there was our
free-and-easy cavalier, who, having a loud voice and a manly presence,
usually performed the tyrant. He was great in Macbeth, greater in
Bombastes Furioso. Fourthly, came this gentleman's wife, a pretty,
slatternish woman, much painted. She usually performed the second
female--the confidante, the chambermaid--the Emilia to the Desdemona.
And fifthly, was Percy's new inamorata,--a girl of about oneand-twenty,
fair, with a nez retrousse: beautiful auburn hair, that was always a little
dishevelled; the prettiest mouth, teeth, and dimple imaginable; a natural
colour; and a person that promised to incline hereafter towards that
roundness of proportion which is more dear to the sensual than the
romantic. This girl, whose name was Fanny Millinger, was of so frank,
good-humoured, and lively a turn, that she was the idol of the whole
company, and her superiority in acting was never made a matter of
jealousy. Actors may believe this, or not, as they please.
"But is this all your company?" said Percy.
"All? no!" replied Fanny, taking off her bonnet, and curling up her
tresses by the help of a dim glass. "The rest are provided at the theatre
along with the candle-snuffer and scene-shifters part of the fixed
property. Why won't you take to the stage? I wish you would! you
would make a very respectable--page."
"Upon my word!" said Percy, exceedingly offended.
"Come, come!" cried the actress, clapping her hands, and perfectly
unheeding his displeasure--"why don't you help me off with my
cloak?--why don't you set me a chair?--why don't you take this great
box out of my way?--why don't you----Heaven help me!" and she
stamped her little foot quite seriously on the floor. "A pretty person for
a lover you are!"
"Oho! then I am a lover, you acknowledge?"

"Nonsense!--get a chair next me at supper."
The young Godolphin was perfectly fascinated by the lively actress;
and it was with no small interest that he stationed himself the following