Then they all went to
the theatre, where Golly's delightful simplicity and childish
ignorance of the world had charmed them. Everything to her was
new, strange, and thrilling. She even leaned from the carriage
windows to see the "wheels go round." She was surprised at the
number of people in the theatre, and insisted on knowing if it was
church, because they all sat there in their best clothes so
quietly. She believed that the play was real, and frequently, from
a stage box, interrupted the acting with explanations. She
informed the heroine of the design of the villain waiting at the
wings. And when the aged mother of the heroine was dying of
starvation in a hovel, and she threw a bag of bonbons on the stage,
with the vociferous declaration that "Lord Brownstone had just
given them to her--but--Lordy!--SHE didn't want them," they were
obliged to lead her away, closely followed by an usher and a
policeman. "To think," she wrote to John Gale, "that the audience
only laughed and shouted, and never offered to help! And yet look
at the churches in London, where they dare to preach the gospel!"
Fired by this simple letter, and alarmed by Golly's simplicity,
John Gale went to his clerical chief, Archdeacon Luxury, and
demanded permission to preach next Sunday. "Certainly," said the
Archdeacon; "you shall take my curate's place.
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