I had read of staircases impassable, and ladies carried out in a fit; and common-sense told me how impossible it was that the fair receiver should be acquainted with the legality of every importation. I therefore resolved to try my chance, and--entered the body of Augustus Tomlinson, as a piece of stolen goods. Faith! the first night I was shy,--I stuck to the staircase, and ogled an old maid of quality, whom I had heard announced as Lady Margaret Sinclair. Doubtless she had never been ogled before; and she was evidently enraptured with my glances. The next night I read of a ball at the Countess of -------'s. My heart beat as if I were going to be whipped; but I plucked up courage, and repaired to her ladyship's. There I again beheld the divine Lady Margaret; and observing that she turned yellow, by way of a blush, when she saw me, I profited by the port I had drunk as an encouragement to my entree, and lounging up in the most modish way possible, I reminded her ladyship of an introduction with which I said I had once been honoured at the Duke of Dashwell's, and requested her hand for the next cotillion. Oh, Paul, fancy my triumph! The old damsel said, with a sigh, she remembered me very well, ha, ha, ha!--and I carried her off to the cotillion like another Theseus bearing away a second Ariadne. Not to be prolix on this part of my life, I went night after night to balls and routs, for admission to which half the fine gentlemen in London would have given their ears. And I improved my time so well with Lady Margaret, who was her own mistress and had L5,000,--a devilish bad portion for some, but not to be laughed at by me,--that I began to think when the happy day should be fixed. Meanwhile, as Lady Margaret introduced me to some of her friends, and my lodgings were in a good situation, I had been honoured with some real invitations. The only two questions I ever was asked were (carelessly), "Was I the only son?" and on my veritable answer 'Yes!' 'What' (this was more warmly put),--'what was my county?' Luckily my county was a wide one,--Yorkshire; and any of its inhabitants whom the fair interrogators might have questioned about me could only have answered, I was not in their part of it.
"Well, Paul, I grew so bold by success that the devil one day put it into my head to go to a great dinner-party at the Duke of Dashwell's. I went, dined,--nothing happened; I came away, and the next morning I read in the papers,--
"'Mysterious affair--person lately going about--first bouses--most fashionable parties--nobody knows--Duke of Dashwell's yesterday. Duke not like to make disturbance--as royalty present."
"The journal dropped from my hands. At that moment the girl of the house gave me a note from Lady Margaret,--alluded to the paragraph; wondered who was 'The Stranger;' hoped to see me that night at Lord A-----'s, to whose party I said I had been asked; speak then more fully on those matters I had touched on!--in short, dear Paul, a tender epistle! All great men are fatalists,--I am one now; fate made me a madman. In the very face of this ominous paragraph I mustered up courage, and went that night to Lord A-----'s. The fact is, my affairs were in confusion,--I was greatly in debt. I knew it was necessary to finish my conquest over Lady Margaret as soon as possible; and Lord A-----'s seemed the best place for the purpose. Nay, I thought delay so dangerous, after the cursed paragraph, that a day might unmask me, and it would be better therefore not to lose an hour in finishing the play of 'The Stranger' with the farce of 'The Honey Moon.' Behold me then at Lord A-----'s, leading off Lady Margaret to the dance. Behold me whispering the sweetest of things in her ear. Imagine her approving my suit, and gently chiding me for talking of Gretna Green. Conceive all this, my dear fellow, and just at the height of my triumph, dilate the eyes of your imagination, and behold the stately form of Lord A-----, my noble host, marching up to me, while a voice that, though low and quiet as an evening breeze, made my heart sink into my shoes, said, 'I believe, sir, you have received no invitation from Lady A-----?'
"Not a word could I utter, Paul,--not a word. Had it been the highroad instead of a ballroom, I could have talked loudly enough; but I was under a spell. 'Ehem!' I faltered at last,--'e-h-e-m! Some mis-take, I-- I--' There I stopped.
"'Sir,' said the earl, regarding me with a grave sternness, 'you had better withdraw.'
"'Bless me! what's all this?' cried Lady Margaret, dropping my palsied arm, and gazing on me as if she expected me to talk like a hero.
"'Oh,' said I, 'eh-e-m, eh-e-m,--I will exp--lain to-morrow,--ehem, e-h-e-m.' I made to the door; all the eyes in the room seemed turned into burning-glasses, and blistered the very skin on my face. I heard a gentle shriek, as I left the apartment,--Lady Margaret fainting, I suppose! There ended my courtship and my adventures in 'the best society.'
"I felt melancholy at the ill-success of my scheme.