Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: COURTSHIP WITH VARIATIONS. Scene : A drawing-room in a country house, prettily furnished. Door from hall, R. 2 E. Door to next room, L. TJ. E. Through large French windows at the back is seen a flower- garden ; in the distance, a view of the Hudson. Large table a little to the left of C., with a chair on each side. Jardiniere, with flowers, in the window R. Mantelpiece at L. 1 E. Ernest Archibald stands by the mantelpiece, looking rather mournfully at a photograph in a velvet frame. He sighs in a mild and subdued way, and his inspection appears to yield him but a limited amount of satisfaction. After a moment, however, he breaks the silence and opens the play by soliloquizing: If I dared ! But I don't dare. I didn't dare before the advent of the late-lamented Berkeley; and now that he has come and gone, I don't see any material improvement in the position. If she was formidable as a girl, she's only doubly terrifying as a widow. 0 Cousin Virginia! Cousin Virginia !—hello, Cousin Virginia! The tone of his sentimental apostrophe suddenly changes, and his last repetition of the name is simply a surprised salutation, addressed to a young lady who has just entered the room R. 2 E. The young lady has bright eyes and an air of entire self-possession, which, in conjunction with a mischievous smile, give a faint hint of the reason why Ernest hadn't dared. And the general appearance of the young lady sufficiently explains why he felt badly about it. Vikoinia Berkeley carries on her arm a traveling-shawl, and in her hand an extremely small work-basket, of which luggage her host proceeds to disembarrass her. Ernest. Why, my dear Virginia, we didn't expect you so soon! Let me take your shawl—and that work-basket. How did you get here ? Virginia. Ernest, where's my aunt ? ...