Near the door, in an attitude
weary yet obsequious, stood, paper in hand, a dejected figure in
shabby plum-colour--_i.e._ a poor author--waiting in hopes that his
sonnet in praise of Cytherea's triumphant charms would win his the
guinea he so sorely needed, as
To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
And heap the shrine of luxury and pride
With incense kindled at the Muses' flame.
The scene was completed by a blue and yellow macaw at one window
chained to his perch, and a green monkey tethered in like manner
at the other.
Of course Elizabeth Delavie did not perceive all these details at once.
Her first sensation was the shock to the decorum of a modest English
lady at intruding into a bed-room; but her foreign recollections coming
to her aid, she accepted the fashion with one momentary feminine review
of her own appearance, and relief that she had changed her travelling
gear for her Sunday silks, and made her father put on his full uniform.
All this passed while Sir Amyas was leading her into the room, steering
her carefully out of the monkey's reach. Then he went a step or two
forward and bent before his mother, almost touching the ground with
one knee, as he kissed her hand, and rising, acknowledged the lady
with a circular sweep of his hat, and his Colonel with a military
salute, all rapidly, but with perfect ease and gracefulness.
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