The prompter's office, now that this piece had been running over four
hundred nights, was practically a sinecure, so that there was no trouble
about getting Lady Cunyngham installed in the little corner, whence,
through a small aperture, she could regard the dusky-hued audience or
turn her attention to the stage just as she pleased. Miss Honnor stood
close by her, when she was allowed--keeping out of sight of the opposite
boxes as much as she could, though she observed that the workmen about
her did not care much whether they were visible or not, and that they
talked or called to one another with a fine indifference towards what
was going forward on the stage. At present a minuet was being danced,
and very pretty it was; she could not help noticing how cleverly Miss
Burgoyne managed her train. As for her mother, the old lady seemed
intensely interested and yet conscious all the time that she herself, in
this strange position, was an interloper; again and again she rose and
offered to resign her place to the rather shabby-looking elderly man who
was the rightful occupant; but he just as often begged her to remain--he
seemed mostly interested in the management of the gas-handles just over
his head.
Pages:
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458