quite seriously on the floor. "A pretty person for a lover you are!"

"Oho! then I am a lover, you acknowledge?"

"Nonsense!--get a chair next me at supper."

The young Godolphin was perfectly fascinated by the lively actress; and it
was with no small interest that he stationed himself the following night
in the stage-box of the little theatre at ----, to see how his Fanny
acted. The house was tolerably well filled, and the play was _She Stoops
to Conquer_. The male parts were, on the whole, respectably managed;
though Percy was somewhat surprised to observe that a man, who had joined
the corps that morning, blessed with the most solemn countenance in the
world--a fine Roman nose, and a forehead like a sage's--was now dressed in
nankeen tights, and a coat without skirts, splitting the sides of the
gallery in the part of Tony Lumpkin. But into the heroine, Fanny
Millinger threw a grace, a sweetness, a simple, yet dignified spirit of
trite love that at once charmed and astonished all present. The applause
was unbounded; and Percy Godolphin felt proud of himself for having
admired one whom every one else seemed also resolved upon admiring.

When the comedy was finished, he went behind the scenes, and for the first
time felt the rank which intellect bestows. This idle girl, with whom he
had before been so familiar; who had seemed to him, boy as he was, only
made for jesting and coquetry, and trifling, he now felt to be raised to a
sudden eminence that startled and abashed him. He became shy and awkward,
and stood at a distance stealing a glance towards her, but without the
courage to approach and compliment her.

The quick eye of the actress detected the effect she had produced. She