Lavinia thought so too. She had, as Mrs. Squeamish in Wycherley's play,
once acted with Quin on the occasion of his benefit and she well
remembered his stiff, stilted style and how he domineered over
everybody. She felt rather dismayed but she could only resign herself to
the situation. There was the consolation that the opera was not likely
to be staged for some time and things might alter. In the theatre any
sudden change was possible.

For weeks, indeed to Christmas, Lavinia remained one of the "lasses" in
"The Rape of Proserpine," but she was quite contented, for Lancelot Vane
was permanently in London in his new post and they were constantly
together. Every night he was waiting for her outside the stage door and
saw her across the Fields to Little Queen Street. It was not safe, he
protested, for her to be in that dark dreary waste alone at night and he
was right. Lincoln's Inn Fields was one of the worst places in London.
The most daring robberies even in daylight were of common occurrence.

Despite the short days of winter they took long walks together. On the
day "betwixt Saturday and Monday," like the lad and the lass of Carey's
famous ballad at that time all the rage, to them Sunday was the day of
days. Sometimes they strolled to the pleasant fields of Islington and
Hornsey; sometimes they revisited Hampstead, and occasionally by way of
the Westminster and Lambeth ferry to the leafy groves of Camberwell, and
the Dulwich Woods. They never talked of love; they were contented and
happy, may be because both were conscious they _were_ in love.

CHAPTER XXVI

"POLLY IS TO BE MY NAME FOR EVER AFTER"

The new year brought the first rehearsal of "The Beggar's Opera."
Hippisley with his rich, unctuous humour was Peachum, and not less well
suited to Lockit was Jack Hall's quaint face and naive manner. James
Spiller, the favourite of the gods, was Mat o' the Mint, and the solemn
visaged Quin essayed Macheath. Lavinia as Polly was both excited and
nervous, and Lucy (Mrs. Egleton) not less so. The rest of the cast
comprised actors and actresses of experience, and they went through
their parts philosophically and without enthusiasm. The motive and the
plot and the many songs made up a play which was to them quite novel,
and they were somewhat bewildered to know what to do with it. Gay
hovered about unable to decide whether his opera was going to be a
thumping success or a dismal failure. The general impression