Excerpt from The Edinburgh Tales, Vol. 3 My readers must remember, that Annie, "charming Annie," like so many other charmers, liked of all things to be "puzzled;" and her good-natured brother Tom promised, that if their clever sister Sophy would lend her assistance, in the next charade Annie should be delightfully perplexed; and moreover, that it should be a love story, such as young ladies like, and also please their father, (provided he kept awake during the performance, ) for it should be of the date of the Commonwealth. Sophia assented; and, at Tom's instigation, Charles fetched from the armoury a weapon of the gun or musket genus, solemnly promising the ladies not to fire it off. On this, the brother and sister retreated behind the screen, and emerged in the guise of a pair of lovers of the seventeenth century. Charade the Third. Scene the First. - An old-fashioned Garden, with Terraces, Fountains, Yew-hedges, &c. - A large Mansion in the back-ground. -Time, eight in the evening. a.d. 1657. Mabel Goodwin - (alone.) Mabel. So! Master Alfred Montresor! He promised to meet me here by eight, and the great clock in the hall wanted but five minutes full half-an-hour agone. It must be half-an-hour. I have been pacing up and down this walk, from the yew-hedge to the fountain, twenty times at least, besides going twice to the little door in the garden-wall, to be sure that it was unbolted. It can't be a minute less than half-an-hour. He had as well stay now in his hiding-place at the village, for I'll never speak to him again. Never! And yet, poor fellow - No! I'll never speak to him again! Enter Alfred Montresor. So, Master Alfred! Alfred. So, my pretty Mistress Mabel! Why turn away so angrily? What fault have I committed, I pray thee? Mab. Fault? None! Alf. Nay, nay, my little Venus of the Puritans, my princess of all Precisians; if thou be offended tell me so. Mab. Offended, forsooth! People are never offended with people they don't care about. Offended, quotha! Alf. And is it because people don't care for people that they bridle, and flounce, and toss, and put their pretty selves into such pretty tantrums - eh, Mistress Mabel? I am after time, sweet, but - Mab. After time! I have been here this half hour! - and my father fast asleep in the hall! After time! If thou hadst cared for me - But men are all - all alike. There hath not been a true lover in the world since Amadis his day - the mad Paladin that my old nurse was used to talk of, and that was but a false legend. After time! - Why, if thou hadst cared for me only as much as I care for this sprig of lavender, thou wouldst have been waiting for me before the chimes had rung seven. Just think of the time thou hast lost. Now thou may'st go thy ways: leave me, sir! About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
