Бульвер-Литтон Эдвард Джордж - Godolphin, Complete стр 5.

Luckily for Percy, he was an especial favourite with a certain not uncelebrated character of the name of Saville; and Saville claimed the privilege of a relation to supply him with money and receive him at his home. Wild, passionate, fond to excess of pleasure, the young Godolphin caught eagerly at these occasional visits; and at each his mind, keen and penetrating as it naturally was, took new flights, and revelled in new views. He was already the leader of his school, the torment of the master, and the lover of the masters daughter. He was sixteen years old, but a character. A secret pride, a secret bitterness, and an open wit and recklessness of bearing, rendered him to all seeming a boy more endowed with energies than affections. Yet a kind word from a friends lips was never without its effect on him, and he might have been led by the silk while he would have snapped the chain. But these were his boyish traits of mind: the world soon altered them.

The subject of the visit to Saville was not again touched upon. A little reflection showed Mr. Godolphin how nugatory were the promises of a schoolboy that he should not cost his father another shilling; and he knew that Savilles house was not exactly the spot in which economy was best learned. He thought it, therefore, more prudent that his son should return to school.

To school went Percy Godolphin; and about three weeks afterwards, Percy Godolphin was condemned to expulsion for returning, with considerable unction, a slap in the face that he had received from Dr. Shallowell. Instead of waiting for his fathers arrival, Percy made up a small bundle of clothes, let himself drop, by the help of the bed-curtains, from the window of the room in which he was confined, and towards the close of a fine summers evening, found himself on the highroad between and London, with independence at his heart and (Savilles last gift) ten guineas in his pocket.

CHAPTER IV

It was a fine, picturesque outline of road on which the young outcast found himself journeying, whither he neither knew nor cared. His heart was full of enterprise and the unfledged valour of inexperience. He had proceeded several miles, and the dusk of the evening was setting in, when he observed a stage-coach crawling heavily up a hill, a little ahead of him, and a tall, well-shaped man, walking alongside of it, and gesticulating somewhat violently. Godolphin remarked him with some curiosity; and the man, turning abruptly round, perceived, and in his turn noticed very inquisitively, the person and aspect of the young traveller.

And how now? said he, presently, and in an agreeable, though familiar and unceremonious tone of voice; whither are you bound this time of day?

It is no business of yours, friend, said the boy with the proud petulance of his age; mind what belongs to yourself.

You are sharp on me, young sir, returned the other; but it is our business to be loquacious. Know, sir,and the stranger frownedthat we have ordered many a taller fellow than yourself to execution for a much smaller insolence than you seem capable of.

A laugh from the coach caused Godolphin to lift up his eyes, and he saw the door of the vehicle half-open, as if for coolness, and an arch female face looking down on him.

You are merry on me, I see, said Percy; come out, and Ill be even with you, pretty one.

The lady laughed yet more loudly at the premature gallantry of the traveller; but the man, without heeding her, and laying his hand on Percys shoulder, said

Pray, sir, do you live at B? naming the town they were now approaching.

Not I, said Godolphin, freeing himself from the intrusion.

You will, perhaps, sleep there?

Perhaps I shall.

You are too young to travel alone.

And you are too old to make such impertinent remarks, retorted Godolphin, reddening with anger.

Faith, I like this spirit, my Hotspur, said the stranger, coolly. If you are really going to put up for the night at B, suppose we sup together?

And who and what are you? asked Percy, bluntly.

Anything and everything! in other words, an actor!

And the young lady?

Is our prima donna. In fact, except the driver, the coach holds none but the ladies and gentlemen of our company. We have made an excellent harvest at A, and we are now on our way to the theatre at B; pretty theatre it is, too, and has been known to hold seventy-one pounds eight shillings. Here the actor fell into a reverie; and Percy, moving nearer to the coach-door, glanced at the damsel, who returned the look with a laugh which, though coquettish, was too low and musical to be called cold.

So that gentleman, so free and easy in his manners, is not your husband?

Heaven forbid! Do you think I should be so gay if he were? But, pooh! what can you know of married life? No! she continued, with a pretty air of mock dignity; I am the Belvidera, the Calista, of the company; above all control, all husbanding, and reaping thirty-three shillings a week.

But are you above lovers as well as husbands? asked Percy with a rakish air, borrowed from Saville.

Bless the boy! No: but then my lovers must be at least as tall, and at least as rich, and, I am afraid, at least as old, as myself.

Dont frighten yourself, my dear, returned Percy; I was not about to make love to you.

Were you not? Yes, you were, and you know it. But why will you not sup with us?

Why not, indeed? thought Percy, as the idea, thus more enticingly put than it was at first, pressed upon him. If you ask me, he said, I will.

I do ask you, then, said the actress; and here the hero of the company turned abruptly round with a theatrical start, and exclaimed, To sup or not to sup? that is the question.

To sup, sir, said Godolphin.

Very well! I am glad to hear it. Had you not better mount and rest yourself in the coach? You can take my placeI am studying a new part. We have two miles farther to B yet.

Percy accepted the invitation, and was soon by the side of the pretty actress. The horses broke into a slow trot, and thus delighted with his adventure, the son of the ascetic Godolphin, the pupil of the courtly Saville, entered the town of B, and commenced his first independent campaign in the great world.

CHAPTER V

Our travellers stopped at the first inn in the outskirts of the town. Here they were shown into a large room on the ground-floor, sanded, with a long table in the centre; and, before the supper was served, Percy had leisure to examine all the companions with whom he had associated himself.

In the first place, there was an old gentleman, of the age of sixty-three, in a bob-wig, and inclined to be stout, who always played the lover. He was equally excellent in the pensive Romeo and the bustling Rapid. He had an ill way of talking off the stage, partly because he had lost all his front teeth: a circumstance which made him avoid, in general, those parts in which he had to force a great deal of laughter. Next, there was a little girl, of about fourteen, who played angels, fairies, and, at a pinch, was very effective as an old woman. Thirdly, there was our free-and-easy cavalier, who, having a loud voice and a manly presence, usually performed the tyrant. He was great in Macbeth, greater in Bombastes Furioso. Fourthly, came this gentlemans wife, a pretty, slatternish woman, much painted. She usually performed the second femalethe confidante, the chambermaidthe Emilia to the Desdemona. And fifthly, was Percys new inamorata,a girl of about one-and-twenty, fair, with a nez retrousse: beautiful auburn hair, that was always a little dishevelled; the prettiest mouth, teeth, and dimple imaginable; a natural colour; and a person that promised to incline hereafter towards that roundness of proportion which is more dear to the sensual than the romantic. This girl, whose name was Fanny Millinger, was of so frank, good-humoured, and lively a turn, that she was the idol of the whole company, and her superiority in acting was never made a matter of jealousy. Actors may believe this, or not, as they please.