ns to which Belville is
but too liable! It may be somewhat 'fat and scant of breath,' ay, and
scant of hair and of teeth too. But though he has played Romeo thirty
years ago, the perruquier, and the dentist, and the rouge-pot, and the
friendly glare of the foot-lights will do wonders; and Podgers--steady
fellow!--will be always at the right wing, at the right moment, know
every line of his author, and contrive to give a very reasonable amount
of satisfaction to all parties concerned. Following this precedent,
then, that wise virgin, Miss Magnolia, and her sagacious mamma, had
allotted the role in question to Arthur Slowe, who was the better
furnished for the part, and, on the whole, the stronger 'cast.' But
failing him, Lieutenant O'Flaherty was quietly, but unconsciously, as
the phrase is,'under-studying' that somewhat uncertain gentleman.

'And the general's off to Scarborough,' said Toole.

'Old Chattesworth! I thought it was to Bath.

'Oh, no, Scarborough; a touch of the old rheum, and stomach I sent him
there; and he's away in the Hillsborough packet for Holyhead this
morning, and Colonel Stafford's left in command.'

'And my Lady Becky Belmont's superseded,' laughed Miss Magnolia,
derisively.

'And who do you think's going to make the grand tour? from Paris to
Naples, if you please, and from Naples to Rome, and up to Venice, and
home through Germany, and deuce knows where beside; you'll not guess in
a twel'month,' said Toole, watching her with a chuckle.

'Devereux, maybe,' guessed the young lady.

'No 'tisn't,' said Toole, delighted; 'try again!'

'Well, 'tis, let me see. Some wild young rogue, with a plenty of money,
I warrant, if I could only think of him--come, don't keep me all
day--who the plague is he, Toole?' urged the young lady, testily.

'Dan Loftus,' answered Toole, 'ha, ha, ha, ha!'

'Dan Loftus!--the grand tour--why, where's the world running to? Oh, ho,
ho, ho, hoo! what a macaroni!' and they laughed heartily over it, and
called him 'travelled monkey,' and I know not what else.

'Why, I thought Dr. Walsingham designed him for his curate; but what in
the wide world brings Dan Loftus to foreign parts--"To dance and sing
for the Spanish King, and to sing and dance for the Queen of France?"'

'Hey! Dan's got a good place, I can tell you--travelling tutor to the
hopeful young lord that is to be--Devereux's cousin. By all the Graces,
Ma'am, 'tis the blind leading the blind. I don't know which