“There was surely, my boy,” said Daly, “but I've forgot her name. The name's not to the point. I tell you, then, the Siddons stormed in the stateliest blank verse and periods, about how she had elevated the stage--how she had checked Brereton for clasping her as she thought too ardently--how she had family prayers every day, and looked forward to the day when she could afford a private chaplain.” “Stop there,” shouted Blake. “You'll begin to exaggerate if you go beyond the chaplain, Daly.” “It's the truth I've told so far, at any rate, barring the chaplain,” said Daly. “And all because I saw she was a bit nervous and did my best to encourage her and give her confidence by shouting, 'Well done, Sally!'” said Blake. “Boys, it's not Sarah Siddons that has been insulted, it's Trinity College--it's the city of Dublin! by my soul, it's the Irish nation that she has insulted by supposing them capable of insulting a woman.” “Faith, there 's something in that, Jimmy,” said half a dozen voices. “Who is this Sarah Siddons, will ye tell me, for I 'd like to know?” resumed Blake, casting a look of almost painful enquiry round the room. “Ay, that 's the question,” said Daly, in a tone that he invariably reserved for the soliloquy which flourished on the stage a century ago. “We 're all gentlemen here,” resumed Mr. Blake. “And that 's more than she is,” said young Blenerhassett of Limerick. “Gentlemen,” said the manager, “I beg that you'll not forget that Mrs. Siddons and myself belong to the same profession. I cannot suffer anything derogatory”--the word gave him some trouble, but he mastered it after a few false starts--“to the stage to be uttered in this apartment.” “You adorn the profession, sir,” said Blake. “But can the same be said of Mrs. Siddons? What could Garrick make of her, gentlemen?” “Ahem! we know what he failed to make of her,” said Digges, the actor, who sat in the corner, and was supposed to have more Drury Lane scandal on his fingers' ends than Daly himself. “Pooh!” sneered Daly. “Davy Garrick never made love to her, Digges. It was her vanity that tried to make out that he did.” “He did not make her a London success--that's certain,” said Blake. “And though Dublin, with the assistance of the College, can pronounce a better judgment on an actor or actress than London, still we must admit that London is improving, and if there had been any merit in Sarah Siddons she would not have been forced to keep to the provinces as she does now. Gentlemen, she has insulted us and it's our duty to teach her a lesson.” “And we're the boys to do it,” said one Moriarty.