Sophia: A Romance

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Weyman Stanley John. Sophia: A Romance

CHAPTER I. A LITTLE TOAD

CHAPTER II. AT VAUXHALL

CHAPTER III. THE CLOCK-MAKER

CHAPTER IV. A DISCOVERY

CHAPTER V. THE WORLD WELL LOST

CHAPTER VI. A CHAIR AND A COACH

CHAPTER VII. IN DAVIES STREET

CHAPTER VIII. UNMASKED

CHAPTER IX. IN CLARGES BOW

CHAPTER X. SIR HERVEY TAKES THE FIELD

CHAPTER XI. THE TUG OF WAR

CHAPTER XII. DON QUIXOTE

CHAPTER XIII. THE WELCOME HOME

CHAPTER XIV. THE FIRST STAGE

CHAPTER XV. A SQUIRE OF DAMES

CHAPTER XVI. THE PAVED FORD

CHAPTER XVII. IN THE VALLEY

CHAPTER XVIII. KING SMALLPOX

CHAPTER XIX. LADY BETTY'S FATE

CHAPTER XX. A FRIEND IN NEED

CHAPTER XXI. THE STROLLING PLATERS

CHAPTER XXII 'TIS GO OR SWIM

CHAPTER XXIII. TWO PORTRAITS

CHAPTER XXIV. WHO PLAYS, PAYS

CHAPTER XXV. REPENTANCE AT LEISURE

CHAPTER XXVI. A DRAGON DISARMED

Отрывок из книги

In a year when all the world was flocking to the new Rotunda in Ranelagh Gardens, Mrs. Northey would be particular, and have her evening party to Vauxhall. Open air was the fashion of the time, and it was from her seat at the open window in Arlington Street that she welcomed her guests. Thence, as each new-comer appeared she shouted her greeting, often in terms that convulsed the chairmen at the corner; or now and again, hanging far out, she turned her attention and wit to the carpenters working late on Sir Robert's house next door, and stated in good round phrases her opinion of the noise they made. When nearly all her company were assembled, and the room was full of women languishing and swimming, and of men mincing and prattling, and tapping their snuff-boxes, Sophia stole in, and, creeping into a corner, hid herself behind two jolly nymphs, who, with hoops six feet wide and cheeks as handsome as crimson could make them, were bandying jokes and horse-play with a tall admirer. In this retreat Sophia fancied that she might hide her sad looks until the party set out; and great was her dismay, when, venturing at last to raise her eyes, she discovered that she had placed herself beside, nay, almost touching the man whom of all others she wished to avoid, the detested Coke; who, singularly enough, had sought the same retirement a few moments earlier.

In the confusion of the moment she recoiled a step; the events of the day had shaken her nerves. Then, "I beg your pardon, sir, I did not see that you were there," she stammered.

.....

"No, I shall not give it you," she answered firmly. "But I shall not tell your mother, either. I shall tear it up. You are too young, you little baby, to do this!" And suiting the action to the word, she tore the note into a dozen pieces and dropped them.

Lady Betty glared at her between relief and rage. At last "Cat! Cat!" she whispered with childish spite. "Thank you for nothing, ma'am. I'll pay you by-and-by, see if I don't!" And with a spring, she was back at the front of the box, her laugh the loudest, her voice the freshest, her wit the boldest and most impertinent of all. Sophia, who fancied that she had made an enemy, did not notice that more than once this madcap looked her way; nor that in the midst of the wildest outbursts she had an eye for what happened in her direction.

.....