_Chignon._ Ver good contree, sire, by and bye--when you grow a little more poor.
_Sir C._ Is that a Parisian rule for improvement?
_Chignon._ Yes, sir, and we help you to follow our example--In good times you hang, and you drown--In bad time you will be like us.--Alway poor--alway gay--forget your politics--laugh at your grievances--take your snuff, vive la dissipation,--ver good country.
_Sir C._ Thanks for your kind advice, monsieur, you Frenchmen are so obliging, and so communicative to strangers----I hear there is a young lady come into this family--we don"t exactly know in what capacity--could not you contrive that she should pa.s.s through this room--or--
_Chignon._ [_Aside._] By gar here be one more old rake after de littel musicienne.
_Sir C._ Only for curiosity,--we never saw her, and have particular reasons--
[_Gives Money._
_Chignon._ Ma foi, your reasons be ver expressive--[_Aside._]--but vat devil shall I do--open the cage of my little Rosignol--my pretty nightingale--no. Chignon--no--[_Looking out._] ah, hah; La Tiffany----Now for de politique----be-gar I undertake your business--and make you de dupe of de performance.
[_Exit with a sign to SIR CLEMENT._
_Sir C._ So--Clifford--There goes as disinterested a fellow now as any in Europe. But hark you--Can you yet guess the purpose for which I brought you here?
_Cliff._ I profess, sir, I am in the dark. If it concerns Lord Gayville"s secret.
_Sir C._ Namely, that this dulcinea has started up in the shape of Miss Alscrip"s musical companion--Her name is Alton. [_Leering._] I tell it you, because I am sure you are not acquainted with it.
_Cliff._ Sir, you will not know me.--
_Sir C._ Tut, tut, don"t do me such injustice----Come, all delicacy being over, by my having made the discovery, will you talk to this girl?
_Cliff._ For what end, sir?
_Sir C._ If you state yourself as Lord Gayville"s friend, she will converse with you more readily, than she would with me--Try her--find out what she is really at. If she has no hold upon him but her person, I shall be easy.
_Cliff._ Sir, let my compliance convince you how much I wish to oblige you. If I can get a sight of this wonder, I promise to give you my faithful opinion of my friend"s danger.
_Enter CHIGNON, and makes a sign to SIR CLEMENT, that the Person he inquired after is coming._
_Sir C._ Leave her with this gentleman----Come, monsieur, you shall show me the new room.
[_Exit._
_Chignon._ [_Aside._] Vid dis gentleman--Vid all my heart--La Tiffany vill answer his purpose, and mine too.
[_Exit._
[_CLIFFORD is looking at the Furniture of the Room._
_Enter TIFFANY._
_Tiff._ What does the Frenchman mean by gentlemen wanting me, and his gibberish of making soft eyes----I hope I know the exercise of my eyes without his instruction--hah! I vow, a clever looking man.
_Cliff._ "Faith, a pretty attracting countenance--but for that apprehensive and timid look--that awe impressing modesty, my friend so forcibly described. [_TIFFANY adjusts herself, and pulls up._]--[_Aside._]
Her silence marks diffidence; deuce take me if I know how to begin, for fear of offending her reserve.
_Tiff._ [_Aside._] I have been told pertness became me--I"ll try, I"m resolved. [_To him._] I hear, sir, you had something to say to a young person in this house--that--that--[_Looking down at the same time archly._] I could not but take the description to myself--I am ready to hear any thing a gentleman has to say.
_Cliff._ [_Aside._] Thank my stars, my scruples are relieved!
_Tiff._ Am I mistaken, sir? Pray, whom was you inquiring after?
_Cliff._ Oh! certainly you, my pretty stranger. A friend of mine has been robbed of his heart, and I see the felony in your looks. Will you confess, or must I arrest you?
_Tiff._ Innocent, sir, in fact, but not quite so in inclination--I hope your own is safe?
_Cliff._ And were it not, my smart unconscionable, would you run away with that also?
_Tiff._ Oh, yes, and a hundred more; and melt them all down together, as the Jews do stolen goods, to prevent their being reclaimed.
_Cliff._ [_Aside._] Astonishing! Have I hit upon the moment when her fancy outruns her art! But are you really the young lady, that"s admitted into this family, as companion to Miss Alscrip?
_Tiff._ Sir, if you mean the young lady, who, however undeservingly, is flatteringly called the flower of this family--who sometimes extracts notice from these windows; and to be sure has been followed home by gentlemen against her inclinations--sir, you are not mistaken.
_Cliff._ [_Aside._] Sure it has been Gayville"s madness or amus.e.m.e.nt then to describe her by contraries.
_Tiff._ I hope, sir, you are not offended? I would not be impertinent, though I am not so tasteless as to be shy.
_Cliff._ Offended, my dear? I am quite charmed, I a.s.sure you. And so without further shyness on either part, let us be free upon the subject I had to talk over with you. You surely are not looking to lasting connexions?
_Tiff._ [_With airs._] Sir, I don"t understand you--I am not what you suppose, I a.s.sure you--Connexions indeed--I should never have thought of that--my character--my behaviour; connexions, I don"t know what the word signifies.
_Sir C._ [_Without._] Clifford--are you ready?
_Cliff._ I am at your orders, sir.
_Tiff._ [_Aside._] Deuce take this interruption!
_Sir Clement._ [_Without._] I shall not wait for Mr. Alscrip any longer.
_Tiff._ [_Aside._] Lud, lud, he, gives me no time to come round again.
[_Runs up to him confusedly._] It"s very true, sir, I would not do such a thing for the world, but you are a man of honour, and I am sure would not give bad advice to a poor girl who is but a novice--and so, sir, [_Hears SIR CLEMENT entering._] put your proposal in writing, and you may depend on having an answer.
[_Runs out._
_Enter SIR CLEMENT._
_Sir C._ Well, Clifford, what do you think of her?
_Cliff._ Make yourself perfectly easy, sir: This girl, when known, can make no impression on Lord Gayville"s mind; and I doubt not but a silk-gown and a lottery-ticket, had they been offered as an ultimatum, would have purchased her person.
_Sir C._ [_With a dry sneer._] Don"t you sometimes Clifford, form erroneous opinions of people"s pretensions? Interest and foolish pa.s.sion inspire strange notions--as one or the other prevails, we are brought to look so low, or so high--