He really could
not stand them. As for Lady Afy, he execrated the greenhornism which had
made him feign a passion, and then get caught where he meant to capture.
As for Sir Lucius, he wished to Heaven he would just take it into
his head to repay him the fifteen thousand he had lent him at that
confounded election, to say nothing of anything else.
Then there was Burlington, with his old loves and his new dances. He
wondered how the deuce that fellow could be amused with such frivolity,
and always look so serene and calm. Then there was Squib: that man never
knew when to leave off joking; and Annesley, with his false refinement;
and Darrell, with his petty ambition. He felt quite sick, and took a
solitary ride: but he flew from Scylla to Charybdis. Mrs. Montfort could
not forget their many delightful canters last season to Rottingdean,
and, lo! she was at his side. He wished her down the cliff.
In this fit of the spleen he went to the theatre: there were eleven
people in the boxes. He listened to the 'School for Scandal.' Never
was slander more harmless. He sat it all out, and was sorry when it was
over, but was consoled by the devils of 'Der Freischutz.
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