In the evening, the whole party met, as usual, in the library. Marionetta sat at the harp; the Honorable Mr. Listless sat by her, and turned over her music, though the exertion was almost too much for him. The Reverend Mr. Larynx relieved him occasionally in this delightful labour. Scythrop, tormented by the demon Jealousy, sat in the corner, biting his lips and fingers. Marionetta looked at him every now and then with a smile of most provoking good humour, which he pretended not to see, and which only the more exasperated his troubled spirit. He took down a volume of Dante, and pretended to be deeply interested in the Purgatorio, though he knew not a word he was reading, as Marionetta was well aware, who, tripping across the room, peeped into his book, and said to him—"I see you are in the middle of Purgatory."—"I am in
