[_A respectful Courtesy, and exit._ _Lady E._ There is something strangely mysterious and affecting in all this----what delicacy of sentiment--what softness of manners! and how well do these qualities accord with that sigh for Clifford! she has been proud--proud of what?--of Clifford's love. It is too plain. But then to account for her present condition?--He has betrayed and abandoned her--too plain again, I fear.--She talked too of a self-corrected heart--take example, Emily, and recall thine from an object, which it ought more than ever to renounce. But here come the Alscrip and her friend: lud! lud! lud! how shall I recover my spirits! I must attempt it, and if I lose my present thoughts in a trial of extravagance, be it of theirs or my own, it will be a happy expedient. _Enter MISS ALSCRIP and MRS. BLANDISH._ [_MISS ALSCRIP runs up to LADY EMILY and kisses her Forehead._ _Lady E._ I ask your pardon, madam, for being so awkward, but I confess I did not expect so elevated a salute. _Miss Als._ Dear Lady Emily, I had no notion of its not being universal. In France, the touch of the lips, just between the eyebrows, has been adopted for years. _Lady E._ I perfectly acknowledge the propriety of the custom. It is almost the only spot of the face where the touch would not risk a confusion of complexions. _Miss Als._ He! he! he! what a pretty thought! _Mrs. Blandish._ How I have longed for this day!--Come, let me put an end to ceremony, and join the hands of the sweetest pair that ever nature and fortune marked for connexion. [_Joins their Hands._ _Miss Als._ Thank you, my good Blandish, though I was determined to break the ice, Lady Emily, in the first place I met you. But you were not at Lady Dovecourt's last night. _Lady E._ [_Affectedly._] No, I went home directly from the Opera: projected the revival of a cap: read a page in the trials of Temper; went to bed and dreamed I was Belinda in the Rape of the Lock. _Mrs. Blandish._ Elegant creature! _Miss Als._ [_Aside._] I must have that air, if I die for it. [_Imitating._] I too came home early; supped with my old gentleman; made him explain my marriage articles, dower, and heirs entail; read a page in a trial of divorce, and dreamed of a rose-colour equipage, with emblems, of Cupids issuing out of coronets. _Mrs. Blandish._ Oh, you sweet twins of perfection----what equality in every thing! I have thought of a name for you--The Inseparable Inimitables. _Miss Als._ I declare I shall like it exceedingly--one sees so few uncopied originals--the thing I cannot bear-- _Lady E._ Is vulgar imitation--I must catch the words from your mouth, to show you how we agree. _Miss Als._ Exactly. Not that one wishes to be without affectation. _Lady E._ Oh! mercy forbid! _Miss Als._ But to catch a manner, and weave it, as I may say, into one's own originality. _Mrs. Blandish._ Pretty! pretty!