Clara Howard!' said May Dacre, 'come here,
love! We want you to be Cinderella in a little play.'
'I act! oh! dear May! How can you laugh at me so! I cannot act.'
'You will not have to speak. Only just move about as I direct you while
Bertha plays music.'
'Oh! dear May, I cannot, indeed! I never did act. Ask Eugenia!'
'Eugenia! If you are afraid, I am sure she will faint. I asked you
because I thought you were just the person for it.'
'But only think,' said poor Clara, with an imploring voice, 'to act,
May! Why, acting is the most difficult thing in the world. Acting is
quite a dreadful thing. I know many ladies who will not act.'
'But it is not acting, Clara. Well! I will be Cinderella, and you shall
be one of the sisters.'
'No, dear May!'
'Well, then, the Fairy?' 'No, dear, dear, dear May!'
'Well, Duke of St. James, what am I to do with this rebellious troop?'
'Let me be Cinderella!'
'It is astonishing,' said Miss Dacre, 'the difficulty which you
encounter in England, if you try to make people the least amusing or
vary the regular dull routine, which announces dancing as the beautiful
of diversions and cards as the sublime.
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