The Gay Lord Quex Part 69

[_Stammeringly._] W--well, I--

QUEX.

[_Sharply._] Eh?

SOPHY.

[_Breaking down._] Oh, my lord, recollect, she's not much more than a girl!

QUEX.

No, she is not much more than a girl; but you--though you and she are of the same age--_you_ are a woman. _You_ know your world, upstairs and downstairs, boudoir and kitchen. Yet you own you have encouraged her in this, made her clandestine meetings with this penniless beggar possible.

You--! you deserve to be whipped, Miss Fullgarney--whipped!

SOPHY.

[_Facing him._] Come, my lord! not so fast! After all, remember, Captain Bastling may be poor, but he's Miss Eden's match in other ways.

QUEX.

Match?

SOPHY.

Young, and good-looking. Oh, and isn't it natural--?

QUEX.

Quite natural--quite. [_Turning to_ FRAYNE.] Chick, what an a.s.s I've been; what fools we old chaps are, all of us! Why, if I had led the life of a saint, it would only be necessary for a man like this Bastling to come along, to knock me out. Good lord, how clear it is, when it's brought home to you in this fas.h.i.+on! It isn't the scamp, the roue, a girl s.h.i.+es at; it's the _old_ scamp, the _old_ roue. She'll take the young one, the blackguard with a smooth skin and a bright eye, directly he raises a hand--take him without a murmur, money-hunter though he may be. Take him! by Jove, she leaps into his arms!

FRAYNE.

D'ye mean that Bastling--?

QUEX.

Napier Bastling! [_Breaking into a prolonged peal of laughter._] Ha, ha, ha, ha! Chick, he's just what _I_ was at eight-and-twenty. Ha, ha, ha!

what I was--and worse, d.a.m.n him!--and she loves him.

SOPHY.

[_Who has been listening with wide-open eyes and parted lips._] It's not true! it isn't true!

QUEX.

[_Turning to her._] Isn't it! You think so, hey? No, I suppose you haven't experimentalised upon _him_; you haven't spied on him, and tempted him as you tempted me. You have never got _him_ into a quiet corner and stuck your impudent face in his. If you had--

SOPHY.

Oh! he wouldn't--!

[FRAYNE _has walked away;_ QUEX _now joins him._

QUEX.

[_As he goes._] Wouldn't he! ha, ha, ha! [_To_ FRAYNE, _fiercely._] What the devil am I to do, Chick?

FRAYNE.

Punch his head.

SOPHY.

[_Panting._] Oh! oh! [BASTLING, _indistinctly seen through the muslin blinds, appears at the window. He raps gently upon the window frame._ SOPHY _glances at the window._] Eh--? [_Under her breath._] Oh! [_She goes swiftly to_ QUEX _and_ FRAYNE, _seizes them by the arms, and pushes them towards the door in the part.i.tion, saying agitatedly._] Wait there! don't come out, or make a noise--

QUEX.

What are you up to now?

SOPHY.

Stay here till I find out what's happened. Oh, I'll do what I can for you!

[_They enter the private room and she closes the door. Then she returns to the window, unfastens it, and retreats._ BASTLING _pushes open the window and comes in._

BASTLING.

[_Advancing to her excitedly._] Ah, Sophy! [_Looking round._] Any one about?

SOPHY.

[_Pointing to the left._] All my girls are in there. Where is she?

BASTLING.

Next door. She's sitting down, calming herself--having her cry out.

SOPHY.

Crying!

BASTLING.

She's all right--awfully happy. I told her I'd come and tell you.

SOPHY.

Tell me--!