outhful
Melpomene more with a view to beguile the time, than from any serious
prepossession.

I found her in the large room, where they were all assembled. She
received me as a friend, and evinced a partiality which flattered my
vanity. In three days, I received a letter from Mr Somerville,
inclosing one from my father, whose only request was, that I would
return home, and meet him as if nothing unpleasant had occurred. This I
determined to do; but I had now been so long in the company of Eugenia
(for that was the actress's name), that I could not very easily part
with her. In fact, I was desperately in love, after my fashion; and
though perhaps I could not with truth say the same of her, yet that she
was partial to my company was evident. I had obtained from her the
history of her life, which, in the following chapter, I shall give in
her own words.

CHAPTER TEN.

She is virtuous, though bred behind the scenes: and, whatever pleasure
she may feel in seeing herself applauded on the stage, she would much
rather pass for a modest girl, than for a good actress. GIL BLAS.

"My father," said Eugenia, "was at the head of this company of strolling
players; my mother was a young lady of respectable family, at a
boarding-school. She took a fancy to my father in the character of
Rolla; and being, of course, deservedly forsaken by her friends, became
a prima donna. I was the only fruits of this connection, and the only
solace of my mother in her affliction, for she bitterly repented the
rash step she had taken.

"At five years old, my father proposed that I should take the character
of Cupid, in the opera of `Telemaque.' To this my mother strongly
objected, declaring that I never should go upon the stage; and this
created a disunion which was daily embittered by my father's unkind
treatment, both of my mother and myself. I never left her side for fear
of a kick, which I was sure to receive when I had not her protection.
She employed all her spare time in my instruction, and, notwithstanding
the folly she had been guilty of, she was fully competent to the task.

"When I was seven years old, a relation of my mother died, and
bequeathed fifteen thousand pounds, to be equally divided between her
and her two sisters, securing my mother's portion in such a manner as to
prevent my father having any control over it. As soon as my mother
obtained this information, she quitted my father, who was too prudent to
s