THE MARRYING-MAN,' THE LIFE OF A BEAUTY,' THE WARNING TO WIVES,' &c., &c., &c. IN THREE VOLUMES.-VOL. III. T. C. NEW BY, LONDON. MDCCCL. COURTSHIP AND WEDLOCK; OR, LOVERS AND HUSBANDS. CHAPTER I. THE SNAKE IN THE GRASS. "WELL, Colonel," said Symons, rubbing his hands with well-assumed glee, "I have been to enquire after la belle délaissée, and you will be glad to hear she is not pining in solitude, or brooding over a breaking heart, for she is gone out for the day...pic-nicing, I believe, with a set of actors and actresses...and I dare say, is now pledging the stage Romeo, a fine young fellow, and madly in love with her, they say, in sparkling bumpers of British champagne!...as I told you before, elle se con solera!" "And as I told you before, taut mieux!" said Colonel Pevensey, but with a hollow laugh and a pale lip, which did not escape the watchful and gloating malice, of the envious parasite. "Shall we have a game of billiards, Colonel ?" "No, I thank you; I am going to ride out with my children!" "Look here, Colonel; here comes Violet's cousin, the young private, Valentine Woodville !" 66 Stop," said the Colonel. "If they are cousins, how is it that her name is Woodhurst, and his Woodville ?", "Oh, Colonel, Woodville is their real name, a good old name too; but she, to disguise it a little, when going on the stage, called herself, by Merryweather's suggestion, Violante Woodhurst, instead of Violet Woodville. I believe the pride of the whole family amounts almost to insanity, and though all but starving, the old birds I mean, they would die of shame, were they to know that this girl is on the stage, and that the boy has enlisted. See, the saucy jackanapes can hardly bring himself to make a proper salute-Look, he actually will not see me!-did you mark how ghastly pale he turned, and what a deadly fire there was in his eye!" 66 "Poor young fellow," said the Colonel, who had no mean tyranny in his nature; no wonder he hates us, if he thinks we stand between him and his first love...I dare say, in his wretched young heart, he believes that we are only trifling with, and seeking to ruin, the B 2 |