Read "A Bankrupt Heart, Volume I" by Florence Marryat online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
At the close of the second act, as she was urging her sister and brother-in-law to take some refreshment, she was disagreeably interrupted by hearing a voice which she recognised as that of Mr Portland, a friend of Lord Ilfracombe's. Jack Portland (as he was usually called by his own sex) was a man whom Miss Llewellyn particularly disliked, on account of his bad influence over the Earl. He was a well-known betting and sporting man, who lived on the turf, and whose lead Lord Ilfracombe was, unfortunately, but too ready to follow. She shrunk back as she encountered him, but Mr Portland was not easily rebuffed.
‘Ah, Miss Llewellyn,' he exclaimed, as he scrambled over the vacant seats to reach her side, ‘is this really you? I thought I recognised you from the stalls, but could hardly believe my eyes. What are you doing in the dress circle? I have always seen you in a box before.'