"Stay, Jasper. I remember you now, Mr. Rugge; take a chair."

She whispered a few words into Losely's ear, then turned to the manager,
and said aloud, "I saw you at Mr. Waife's lodging, at the time he had
that bad accident."

"And I had the honour to accompany you home, ma'am, and--but shall I
speak out before this gentleman?"

"Certainly; you see he is listening to you with attention. This
gentleman and I have no secrets from each other. What has become of that
person? This gentleman wishes to know."

LOSELY.--"Yes, sir, I wish to know-particularly."

RUGGE.--"So do I; that is partly what I came about. You are aware, I
think, ma'am, that I engaged him and Juliet Araminta, that is, Sophy."

LOSELY.--"Sophy? engaged them, sir,--how?"

RUGGE.--"Theatrical line, sir,--Rugge's Exhibition; he was a great actor
once, that fellow Waife."

LOSELY.--"Oh, actor! well, sir, go on."

RUGGE (who in the course of his address turns from the lady to the
gentleman, from the gentleman to the lady, with appropriate gesture and
appealing look).--"But he became a wreck, a block of a man; lost an eye
and his voice too. How ever, to serve him, I took his grandchild and him