“Oh, Richard, is, there not something you can do?” she cried, when, I had got her back in the little parlour in Gloucester Street; “father has argued and, pleaded and threatened in vain.  I thought,—­I thought perhaps you might help him.”

“I think I am not one to preach, or to boast,” I replied soberly.

“Yes,” said she, looking grave; “I know you are wilder than you used to be; that you play more than you ought, and higher than you ought.”

I was silent.

“And I suspect at whose door it lies,” said she.

“’Tis in the blood, Patty,” I answered.

She glanced at me quickly.

“I know you better than you think,” she said.  “But Tom has not your excuse.  And if he had only your faults I would say nothing.  He does not care for those he should, and he is forever in the green-room of the theatre.”

I made haste to change the subject, and to give her what comfort I might; for she was sobbing before she finished.  And the next day I gave Tom a round talking-to for having so little regard for his sister, the hem of whose skirt he was not worthy to touch.  He took it meekly enough, with a barrel of pat excuses to come after.  And he asked me to lend him my phaeton, that he might go a-driving with Miss Crane, of the theatrical company, to Round Bay!

Meanwhile I saw Miss Manners more frequently than was good for my peace of mind, and had my turn as her partner at the balls.  But I could not bring myself to take third or fourth rank in the army that attended her.  I, who had been her playmate, would not become her courtier.  Besides, I had not the wit.

Was it strange that Dr. Courtenay should pride himself upon the discovery of a new beauty?  And in the Coffee House, and in every drawing-room in town, prophesy for her a career of conquest such as few could boast?  She was already launched upon that career.  And rumour had it that Mr. Marmaduke was even then considering taking her home to London, where the stage was larger and the triumph greater.  Was it surprising that the Gazette should contain a poem with the doctor’s well-known ear-marks upon it?  It set the town a-wagging, and left no room for doubt as to who had inspired it.

       “Sweet Pandora, tho’ formed of Clay,
        Was fairer than the Light of Day. 
        By Venus learned in Beauty’s Arts,
        And destined thus to conquer Hearts. 
        A Goddess of this Town, I ween,
        Fair as Pandora, scarce Sixteen,
        Is destined, e’en by Jove’s Command,
        To conquer all of Maryland. 
        Oh, Bachelors, play have a Care,
        For She will all your Hearts ensnare.”

So it ran.  I think, if dear Mrs. Manners could have had her way, Dolly would have passed that year at a certain young ladies’ school in New York.  But Mr. Marmaduke’s pride in his daughter’s beauty got the better of her.  The strut in his gait became more marked the day that poem appeared, and he went to the Coffee House both morning and evening, taking snuff to hide his emotions when Miss Manners was spoken of; and he was perceived by many in Church Street arm in arm with Dr. Courtenay himself.