Her eyes, too, glittered like basilisks; but she said nothing, which was remarkable in her, whose tongue was the sword of a _maitre d'armes._ Sir Charles eyed his friend in a sly, satirical manner; he then said, laughingly: "In two months _she married a third!_ don't waste your sympathy," and turned the talk into another channel; and soon after, Mrs.Woffington's maid appearing at the door, she courtesied to both gentlemen and left the theater.

Sir Charles Pomander accompanied Mr.
Vane a little way.
"What becomes of her innocence ?" was his first word.
"One loses sight of it in her immense talent," said the lover.
"She certainly is clever in all that bears upon her business," was the reply; "but I noticed you were a little shocked with her indelicacy in telling us that story, and still more in having it to tell." "Indelicacy?
No!" said Vane; "the little brute deserved it.

Good Heavens! to think that 'a little brute' might have married that angel, and actually broke faith to lose her; it is incredible, the crime is diluted by the absurdity." "Have you heard him tell the story?
No?
Then take my word for it, you have not heard the facts of the case." "Ah! you are prejudiced against her ?" "On the contrary, I like her.

But I know that with all women the present lover is an angel and the past a demon, and so on in turn.

And I know that if Satan were to enter the women of the stage, with the wild idea of impairing their veracity, he would come out of their minds a greater liar than he went in, and the innocent darlings would never know their spiritual father had been at them." Doubtful whether this sentiment and period could be improved, Sir Charles parted with his friend, leaving his sting in him like a friend; the other's reflections as he sauntered home were not strictly those of a wise, well-balanced mind; they ran in this style: "When she said, 'Is not that to praise my person at the expense of my wit ?' I ought to have said, 'Nay, madam; could your wit disguise your person, it would betray itself, so you would still shine confessed;' and instead of that I said nothing!" He then ran over in his mind all the opportunities he had had for putting in something smart, and bitterly regretted those lost opportunities; and made the smart things, and beat the air with them.
Then his cheeks tingled when he remembered that he had almost scolded her; and he concocted a very different speech, and straightway repeated it in imagination.
This is lovers' pastime; I own it funny; but it is open to one objection, this single practice of sitting upon eggs no longer chickenable, carried to a habit, is capable of turning a solid intellect into a liquid one, and ruining a mind's career.
We leave Mr.Vane, therefore, with a hope that he will not do it every night; and we follow his friend to the close of our chapter.
Hey for a definition! What is diplomacy?
Is it folly in a coat that looks like sagacity?
Had Sir Charles Pomander, instead of watching Mr.Vane and Mrs.Woffington, asked the former whether he admired the latter, and whether the latter responded, straightforward Vane would have told him the whole truth in a minute.