ich gives the point to his soliloquy. Leave
it to the reader's imagination.

_A_. I understand. But still the Honourable Augustus cannot lie in bed
much longer, and I really shall not be able to get him out without your
assistance. I do not comprehend how a man can get out of bed
_gracefully_; he must show his bare legs, and the alteration of position
is in itself awkward.

_B_. Not half so awkward as you are. Do you not feel that he must not
be got out of bed at all--that is, by description.

_A_. How then?

_B_. By saying nothing about it. Recommence as follows:--"`I should
like the bath at seventy-six and a half, Coridon,' observed the
Honourable Augustus Bouverie, as he wrapped his embroidered dressing
gown round his elegant form, and sank into a _chaise longue_, wheeled by
his faithful attendant to the fire." There, you observe, he is out of
bed, and nothing said about it.

_A_. Go on, I pray thee.

_A_. "`How is the bath perfumed?' `_Eau de mille fleurs_.' `_Eau de
mille fleurs_! Did not I tell you last week that I was tired of that
villainous compound? It has been adulterated till nothing remains but
its name. Get me another bath immediately _a la violette_; and,
Coridon, you may use that other scent, if there is any left, for the
poodle; but observe, only when _you_ take him an airing, not when he
goes with _me_.'"

_A_. Excellent! I now feel the real merits of an exclusive; but you
said something about dressing-room, or in-door philosophy.

_B_. I did; and now is a good opportunity to introduce it. Coridon
goes into the ante-chamber to renew the bath, and of course your hero
has met with a disappointment in not having the bath to his immediate
pleasure. He must press his hands to his forehead. By-the-by,
recollect that his forehead, when you describe it, must be high and
white as snow: all aristocratical foreheads are--at least, are in a
fashionable novel.

_A_. What! the women's and all?

_B_. The heroine's must be; the others you may lower as a contrast.
But to resume with the philosophy. He strikes his forehead, lifts his
eyes slowly up to the ceiling, and drops his right arm as slowly down by
the side of the _chaise longue_; and then in a voice so low that it
might have been considered a whisper, were it not for its clear and
brilliant intonation, he exclaims--

_A_. Exclaims in a whisper!

_B_. To be sure; you exclaim mentally, why should you not in a whisper?

_