giggling, had to
pirouette round and round upon her toes (as girls do) when some
specially strong gust had got the advantage over her. They were just
high enough up in the social order not to be afraid to speak to a
gentleman; and just low enough to feel a little tremor, a nervous
consciousness of wrong-doing--of stolen waters, that gave a considerable
zest to our most innocent interview. They were as much discomposed and
fluttered, indeed, as if I had been a wicked baron proposing to elope
with the whole trio; but they showed no inclination to go away, and I
had managed to get them off hills and waterfalls and on to more
promising subjects, when a young man was descried coming along the path
from the direction of Keswick. Now whether he was the young man of one
of my friends, or the brother of one of them, or indeed the brother of
all, I do not know; but they incontinently said that they must be going,
and went away up the path with friendly salutations. I need not say that
I found the lake and the moonlight rather dull after their departure and
speedily found my way back to potted herrings and whisky-and-water in
the commercial room with my late fellow-traveller. In the smoking-room
there was a tall dark man with a moustache, in an ulster coat, who had
got the best place and was monopolising most of the talk; and, as I came
in, a whisper came round to me from both sides, that this was the
manager of a London theatre. The presence of such a man was a great
event for Keswick, and I must own that the manager showed himself equal
to his position. He had a large fat pocket-book, from which he produced
poem after poem, written on the backs of letters or hotel-bills; and
nothing could be more humorous than his recitation of these elegant
extracts, except perhaps the anecdotes with which he varied the
entertainment. Seeing, I suppose, something less countrified in my
appearance than in most of the company, he singled me out to
corroborate some statements as to the depravity and vice of the
aristocracy, and when he went on to describe some gilded saloon
experiences, I am proud to say that he honoured my sagacity with one
little covert wink before a second time appealing to me for
confirmation. The wink was not thrown away; I went in up to the elbows
with the manager, until I think that some of the glory of that great man
settled by reflection upon me, and that I was as noticeably the second
person in the smoking-room as he was