"
"Sir Charles Bassett here! Oh, his poor wife! What drove him mad? Poor,
poor Sir Charles!"
"Oh, he is all right. They have cured him entirely; but there is no
getting him out, and he is beginning to lose heart, they say. There's a
literary swell here can tell you all about it; he has come down
expressly: but they are in a fix, and I think you could help them out.
I wish you would let me introduce you to him."
"To whom?"
"To Mr. Rolfe. You used to read his novels."
"I adore him. Introduce me at once. But Sir Charles must not see me,
nor know I am here. Say Mrs. Marsh, a friend of Lady Bassett's, begs to
be introduced."
Sly Vandeleur delivered this to Rolfe; but whispered out of his own
head, "A character for your next novel--a saint with the devil's own
temper."
This insidious addition brought Mr. Rolfe to her directly.
As might be expected from their go-ahead characters, these two knew
each other intimately in about twelve minutes; and Rolfe told her all
the facts I have related, and Marsh went into several passions, and
corrected herself, and said she had been a great sinner, but was
plucked from the burning, and therefore thankful to anybody who would
give her a little bit of good to do.
Rolfe took prompt advantage of this foible, and urged her to see the
Commissioners in Lunacy, and use all her eloquence to get one of them
down.
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