s
grievance. But she vowed vengeance on the "squalling chit" sooner or
later.

Meanwhile the object of Sally Salisbury's hoped for revenge was sitting
in a dark corner of the coffee room of the Maiden Head tavern. She felt
terribly embarrassed and answered Bolingbroke's compliments in
monosyllables. He pressed her to take some wine but she refused. To her
great relief he did not trouble her with attentions.

Then Gay entering with Spiller and his butcher friends, and Leveridge,
as soon as he could, approached her.

"Tell me, Polly,--my tongue refuses to say Lavinia--how you have
offended that vulgar passionate woman?"

"I don't know. Jealousy, I suppose. She's burning to sing but she can't.
Sing, why she sets one's teeth on edge! It might be the sharpening of a
knife on a grindstone. She would be a play actress, and Mrs. Barry at
Drury Lane promised to help her, but they quarrelled. Sally wanted to be
a great actress all at once, but you can't be, can you, sir?"

She looked at the poet earnestly. Her large grey eyes were wonderfully
expressive, and Gay did not at once answer. He was thinking how sweet
was the face, and how musical and appealing the voice.

"True, child, and that you should say it shows your good sense. Wait
here a few minutes and then you shall take me to your mother."

Gay crossed the room to his friends, and they talked together in low
voices. Spiller and Leveridge had much to say--indeed it was to these
two, who had practical knowledge of the theatre, to whom he appealed.
Bolingbroke sat silently listening.

Gay's project concerning his new found protegee was such as would only
have entered into the brain of a dreamy and impecunious poet. He saw in
Lavinia Fenton the making of a fine actress--not in tragedy but in
comedy--and of an enchanting singer. But to be proficient she must be
taught not only music, but how to pronounce the English language
properly. She had to a certain extent picked up the accent of the
vulgar. It was impossible, considering her surroundings and
associations, to be otherwise. But proper treatment and proper
companions would soon rid her of this defect.

Both Spiller and Leveridge agreed she was fitted for the stage. But how
was she to be educated? And what was the use of education while she was
living in a Bedfordbury coffee house!

"She must be sent to a boarding school and be among gentlefolk,"
declared Gay energetically.

"Excellent," said Bolingbroke, speaki