Mrs Martin complimented her warmly at
the end of the performance, and inwardly debated whether Madge could
be asked to enliven one of the parties at the Hall, and how it could,
at the same time, be made clear to the guests that she and her
mother, who must come with her, were not even acquaintances, properly
so called, but were patronised as persons of merit living in the town
which the Hall protected. Mrs Martin was obliged to be very careful.
She certainly was on the list at the Lord Lieutenant's, but she was
in the outer ring, and she was not asked to those small and select
little dinners which were given to Sir Egerton, the Dean of
Peterborough, Lord Francis, and his brother, the county member. She
decided, however, that she could make perfectly plain the conditions
upon which the Hopgoods would be present, and the next day she sent
Madge a little note asking her if she would 'assist in some
festivities' at the Hall in about two months' time, which were to be
given in celebration of the twenty-first birthday of Mrs Martin's
third son. The scene from the 'Tempest,' where Ferdinand and Miranda
are discovered playing chess, was suggested, and it was proposed that
Madge should be Miranda, and Mr Palmer Ferdinand. Mrs Martin
concluded with a hope that Mrs Hopgood and her eldest daughter would
'witness the performance.'
Frank joyously consented, for amateur theatricals had always
attracted him, and in a few short weeks he was again at Fenmarket.
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