Don't be hard on me. (_Reads
letter._) It begins in the middle, without any 'Dear Captain Gadsby,'
or anything. How funny!
CAPT. G. (_Aside._) No, it's not Dear Captain Gadsby, or anything,
now. How funny!
MRS. G. What a strange letter! (_Reads._) 'And so the moth has come
too near the candle at last, and has been singed into--shall I say
Respectability? I congratulate him, and hope he will be as happy as
he deserves to be.' What does that mean? Is she congratulating you
about our marriage?
CAPT. G. Yes, I suppose so.
MRS. G. (_Still reading letter._) She seems to be a particular friend
of yours.
CAPT. G. Yes. She was an excellent matron of sorts--a Mrs.
Herriott--wife of a Colonel Herriott. I used to know some of her people
at Home long ago--before I came out.
MRS. G. Some Colonels' wives are young--as young as me. I knew one who
was younger.
CAPT. G. Then it couldn't have been Mrs. Herriott. She was old enough
to have been your mother, dear.
MRS. G. I remember now. Mrs. Scargill was talking about her at the
Duffins' tennis, before you came for me, on Tuesday. Captain Mafflin
said she was a 'dear old woman.
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