e you plead from your very heart, and you
shall have Alex for your Bassanio."

"But the word. Do you mean to make it fit in with Falstaff and Catherine
Seyton?" said Henrietta.

"Let me see," said Beatrice; "bond--bondage, jew--jeweller, juniper,--"

"Lawsuit," said Fred. "Ay, don't you see, all the scenes would come out
of the 'Merchant of Venice.' There is 'law' when the old Jew is crying
out for his ducats, and--but halloo!" and Fred stood aghast at the sight
of his uncle, whose presence they had all forgotten in their eagerness.

"Traitor!" said Beatrice; "but never mind, I believe we must have let
him into the plot, for nobody else can be Shylock."

"O, Bee," whispered Henrietta, reproachfully, "don't tease him with our
nonsense. Think of asking him to study Shylock's part, when he has all
that pile of papers on the table."

"Jessica, my girl, Look to my house. I am right loth to go; There is
some ill a-brewing to my rest, For I did dream of money-bags to-night."

Such was Uncle Geoffrey's reply; his face and tone so suddenly altered
to the snarl of the old Jew, that his young companions at first started,
and then clapped their hands in delighted admiration.

"Do you really know it all?" asked Henrietta, in a sort of respectful
awe.

"It won't cost me much trouble to get it up," said Mr. Geoffrey
Langford; "Shylock's growls stick in one's memory better than finer
speeches."

"Then will you really be so very kind?"

"Provided you will leave the prompter of Monday night on the table
this morning," said Uncle Geoffrey, smiling in that manner which, to a
certain degree, removed any feeling of obligation, by making it seem as
if it was entirely for his own diversion. Nor could it be denied that he
did actually enjoy it.

The party took up their quarters in the study, which really was the only
place fit for consultations and rehearsals, since Fred and Alex
could not be taken to the maids' workroom, and none of the downstairs
apartments could be made subject to the confusion incidental to their
preparations. Henrietta had many scruples at first about disturbing
Uncle Geoffrey, but his daughter laughed at them all; and they were soon
at an end when she perceived that he minded their chattering, spouting,
and laughing, no more than if they had been so many little sparrows
twittering on the eaves, but pursued the even tenor of his writing
uninterruptedly, even while she fitted on his head a yellow pointed c