“I had hardly obtained access to her when she turned upon me in a fury,” said he. “Ah, boys, those eyes of hers!--I feel them still upon me. They made me feel like a poor wretch that's marched out in front of a platoon to be shot before breakfast. And her voice! well, it sounded like the voice of the officer giving the word of command to the platoon to fire. When I lay ready to expire at her feet, every word that she spoke had the effect of a bayonet prod upon my poor body. Oh, Lord! oh, Lord! I'll leave it to yourself, Mr. Blake: was it generous of her to stab me with cold steel after I was riddled with red-hot bullets?” “I'm sorry to say, Mr. Hogan,” replied Blake, “that I can't take a lenient view of your conduct. We all know what you are, sir. You seek to ingraft the gallantries of the reign of his late Majesty upon the present highly moral age. Mrs. Siddons, sir, is a true wife and mother, besides being a most estimable actress, and you deserved the rebuff from the effects of which you are now suffering. Sir, we leave you to the gnawings of that remorse which I trust you feel acutely.” Mr. Blake, with his friends, left the tavern room as Dionysius was beginning to whimper. In the street a roar of laughter burst from the students. “Mother o' Moses!” cried Moriarty. “'T is a golden guinea I'd give to have been present when the Siddons turned upon the poor devil.” “Then I 'll give you a chance of being present at a better scene than that,” said Blake. “What do you mean, Jimmy?” asked Moriarty. “I mean to bring you with me to pay a visit to Mrs. Siddons this very minute.” “'T is joking you are, Jimmy?” “Oh, the devil a joke, ma bouchai! Man alive, can't you see that the fun is only beginning? We'll go to her in a body and make it out that she has insulted a friend of ours by attributing false motives to him, and that her husband must come out to the Park in the morning.” “That's carrying a joke a bit too far,” said Mr. Blenerhassett. “I'll not join in with you there.” “Nobody axed ye, sir,” said Blake. “There are three of us here without you, and that's enough for our purpose.” “If Mr. Siddons kicks you into the street, or if Sally treats you as she did that poor devil in the tavern,'t is served right that you'll be,” said Blenerhassett, walking off. “We'll have a scene with Sarah Siddons for our trouble, at any rate,” laughed Blake. The three young men who remained when the more scrupulous youth had departed, went together to Mrs. Siddons' lodgings. They understood more than Dionysius did about the art of obtaining admittance when only a portress stood in the way--a squeeze, a kiss, and a crown combined to make the maid take a lenient view of the consequences of permitting them to go up the stairs.