_Mr. H_. Go, for a couple of ungrateful, inquisitive, senseless rascals! Go; hang, starve, or drown!--Rogues, to speak thus irreverently of the alphabet--I shall live to see you glad to serve old Q--to curl the wig of great S--adjust the dot of little i--stand behind the chair of X, Y, Z--wear the livery of Etcætera--and ride behind the sulky of And-by-itself-and! [_Exit in a rage_.
SCENE.--_A handsome Apartment well lighted, Tea, Cards, &c.--A large party of Ladies and Gentlemen; among them MELESINDA._
_1st Lady_. I wonder when the charming man will be here.
_2d Lady_. He is a delightful creature. Such a polish--
_3d Lady_. Such an air in all that he does or says--
_4th Lady_. Yet gifted with a strong understanding--
_5th Lady_. But has your ladyship the remotest idea of what his true name is?
_1st Lady_. They say, his very servants do not know it. His French valet, that has lived with him these two years--
_2d Lady_. There, Madam, I must beg leave to set you right; my coachman--
_1st Lady_. I have it from the very best authority; my footma--
_2d Lady_. Then, Madam, you have set your servants on--
_1st Lady_. No, Madam, I would scorn any such little mean ways of coming at a secret. For my part, I don't think any secret of that consequence.
_2d Lady_. That's just like me; I make a rule of troubling my head with nobody's business but my own.
_Melesinda_. But then, she takes care to make everybody's business her own, and so to justify herself that way-- (_Aside_.)
_1st Lady_. My dear Melesinda, you look thoughtful.
_1st Lady_. As the object--Come, never blush, nor deny it, child. Bless me, what great ugly thing is that, that dangles at your bosom?
_Melesinda_. This? It is a cross: how do you like it?
_2d Lady_. A cross! Well, to me it looks for all the world like a great staring H. _(Here a general laugh.)_
_Melesinda_. Malicious creatures! Believe me it is a cross, and nothing but a cross.
_1st Lady_. A cross, I believe, you would willingly hang at.
_3rd Lady_. So perfectly lifeless--You owe it to us to be more than commonly entertaining.
_4th Lady_. O, Mr. H., those ranunculas you said were dying, pretty things, they have got up--
_5th Lady_. I have worked that sprig you commended--I want you to come--