_The E._ (_sternly_). Would you were anything half so serviceable to the community, Sir! I have no superstitious reverence for rank, and am, I trust, sufficiently enlightened to discern worth and merit--even beneath the spangled vest of the humblest acrobat. Your foster-brother, brief as our acquaintance has been, has already endeared himself to all hearts, while you have borne a trifling reverse of fortune with sullen discontent and conspicuous incapacity. He has perfected himself in a lofty and distinguished profession during years spent by _you_, Sir, in idly cumbering the earth of Eton and Oxford. Shall I allow him to suffer by a purely accidental coincidence? Never! I owe him reparation, and it shall be paid to the uttermost penny. From this day, I adopt him as my eldest son, and the heir to my earldom, and all other real and personal effects. See, Robert Henry, that you treat your foster-brother as your senior in future! _Colts._ (_to_ Lord B.). Way-oh, ole matey, I don’t bear no malice, _I_ don’t! Give us your dooks. [_Offering hand._ _The C._ Ah, Bullsaye, try to be worthy of such generosity! [Lord B. _grasps_ COLTSFOOT’S _hand in silence_. _Lady Rose._ And pray, understand that, whether Mr. Coltsfoot be viscount or acrobat, it can make no difference whatever to the disinterested affection with which I have lately learnt to regard him. [_Gives her hand to_ COLTSFOOT, _who squeezes it with ardour_. _Colts._ (_pleasantly_). Well, Father, Mother, your noble Herlship and Lady, foster-brother Bullsaye, and my pretty little sweetart ’ere, what do you all say to goin’ inside and shunting a little garbage, and shifting a drop or so of lotion, eh? _The E._ A most sensible suggestion, my boy. Let us make these ancient walls the scene of the blithest--ahem!--_beano_ they have ever yet beheld! [_Cheers from Tenantry, as the_ Earl _leads the way into the Castle with_ Mrs. HOREHOUND, _followed by_ HOREHOUND _with the_ Countess _and_ COLTSFOOT _with_ Lady ROSE, Lord BULLSAYE, _discomfited and abashed, entering last as Curtain falls_. VII.--RECLAIMED! OR, HOW LITTLE ELFIE TAUGHT HER GRANDMOTHER. CHARACTERS. _Lady Belledame_ (_a Dowager of the deepest dye_). _Monkshood_ (_her Steward, and confidential Minion_). _Little Elfie_ (_an Angel Child_). This part has been specially constructed for that celebrated Infant Actress, Banjoist, and Variety Comédienne, Miss BIRDIE CALLOWCHICK. SCENE--_The Panelled Room at Nightshade Hall._