Chapter III: Act ONE (2)

MRS. RITTER. Mr. Hossefrosse. [_Mrs. Pampinelli comes forward into the room again, bringing the manuscript with her._]

HOSSEFROSSE. Mrs. Ritter--good evening. [_Mrs. Ritter asks him if he will have a glass of claret and he says yes, so she proceeds to fill him out one._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. I hope the rest of the people aren’t far behind you.

HOSSEFROSSE. Are we late?

MRS. FELL. [_Waving to him_] Hello, Huxley.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Not very.

HOSSEFROSSE. Hello, Nelly. How are you? [_Mrs. Ritter gives him the claret, and he stands up at the center-door with her, drinking it. Teddy Spearing wanders in from the right hallway._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Passing below the little table below the piano and laying the manuscript on it_] Here’s the manuscript, Nelly. [_She continues to the arm-chair below the casement-window, and, picking up her note-book from the little table at her right, sits down and commences to make notes._]

MRS. FELL. [_Seeing Teddy Spearing, and starting towards the right partition_] Oh, Teddy Spearing!

TEDDY. Hello, Nelly.

MRS. FELL. [_Beckoning him with her fan_] Come here, dear, I’ve got something to tell you. [_Teddy leans over the partition at the right and Nelly kneels on the partition-seat and whispers something to him. Hossefrosse and Mrs. Ritter are conversing in the center-door, Mrs. Pampinelli is making notes down at the right, Ritter is standing over in front of the mantelpiece, smoking, and Spindler is standing just below him, to his left, watching him._]

SPINDLER. [_In a sudden surge of courage, and taking a rather nonchalant step towards Ritter_] Could you spare one of those cigars, please? [_Ritter looks at him keenly, then reaches in his vest-pocket for a cigar._]

RITTER. Do you smoke?

SPINDLER. Semi-occasionally, yes. [_Ritter hands him the cigar and he steps nonchalantly back to his former position, Ritter keeping one eye on him. He examines the cigar curiously, and, being apparently very near-sighted, seems to have considerable difficulty in deciphering the band-inscription._]

RITTER. You can light _either_ end of it.

SPINDLER. [_Very self-conscious_] Yes,--I was just looking at this label here: it’s rather keen. [_He puts the cigar in his mouth, and attempts an attitude of careless detachment._]

RITTER. Have you got a match?

SPINDLER. I don’t--[_As he opens his mouth to speak the cigar falls on the floor, and he scrambles after it._]

TEDDY. [_Laughing incredulously and turning away from Nelly_] Oh, Nelly!

MRS. FELL. Upon my word, dear! Come here till I tell you. [_Teddy returns to the partition and Nelly proceeds with her gossip._]

SPINDLER. [_Straightening up, and attempting another man-of-the-world attitude_] I don’t care to smoke just now, thank you. [_He holds the cigar in his fingers._]

RITTER. [_As things settle again_] You’ve been in the army, haven’t you?

SPINDLER. [_Turning to Ritter with a suggestion of military erectness_] Yes; I put in the better part of three months down at Upton, in the Personnel.

RITTER. I imagined from your salute you’d been around one of the camps.

SPINDLER. Yes,--I was Third Lieutenant down there--[_Ritter looks at him sharply; then Spindler turns and meets the look._] Regimental Sergeant Major.

RITTER. Rest.

MRS. FELL. [_Coming away from the partition_] So I’m going to ask him right out the very next time I meet him. [_She comes down to the little table below the piano again. Mr. Hossefrosse comes through the center-door towards Ritter, rubbing his hands, and Teddy moves over towards Mrs. Ritter, who is still officiating at the punch-bowl._]

TEDDY and HOSSEFROSSE, speaking together.

TEDDY. [_Speaking to Mrs. Fell_] Maybe he doesn’t know it himself.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Addressing Ritter_] Ah, Mr. Ritter! How do you do, sir?
[_They shake hands._]

RITTER. How do you do?

MRS. FELL and HOSSEFROSSE, together.

MRS. FELL. Well, I’m going to find out, whether he does or not.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_To Ritter_] Decided there was no place like home, eh?
[_He laughs, with a mirthless effusiveness._]

RITTER. Are you in the show, too? [_Mrs. Ritter fills out a glass of claret for Teddy._]

MRS. FELL and HOSSEFROSSE, together.

MRS. FELL. I should say he is in it.

HOSSEFROSSE. We’re all in it.

MRS. FELL. He’s the leading man. [_Hossefrosse raises his right hand toward Nelly and laughs deprecatingly._] Unfortunately, there isn’t a place in the play where he can use that perfectly gorgeous singing-voice of his. [_Hossefrosse is quite overcome, and crosses, with hand extended, to Spindler._] It’s true.

HOSSEFROSSE. Good evening, Mr. Spindler.

SPINDLER. Good evening, good evening. [_In shifting the cigar from his right hand to his left he drops it._]

HOSSEFROSSE. Uh! I beg your pardon! [_Mrs. Ritter laughs at something Teddy has said to her, then hands him a glass of claret. Mr. Hossefrosse stoops to pick up Spindler’s cigar._]

SPINDLER. [_Stooping also, after the cigar_] That’s all right.

HOSSEFROSSE and SPINDLER, together.

HOSSEFROSSE. I’ll get it. [_He picks it up and hands it to Spindler._]

SPINDLER. It isn’t lit.

HOSSEFROSSE. There we are.

SPINDLER. Thank you very much.

HOSSEFROSSE. Don’t mention it. [_He crosses down to Nelly, who is looking through the manuscript at the table below the piano._]

TEDDY. [_Coming through the center-door and speaking to Ritter_] How do you do, Mr. Ritter?

RITTER. [_Shaking hands with him_] How are you?

TEDDY. [_Nodding to Spindler_] Good evening.

SPINDLER. Good evening, sir; good evening.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Teddy!

TEDDY. [_Crossing towards the piano_] Yes?

MRS. RITTER, MRS. PAMPINELLI and HOSSEFROSSE, together.

MRS. RITTER. [_Waving her handkerchief toward the right hallway_]
Hello, Florence!

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Addressing Teddy_] Did you telephone that man about
those tickets?

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Standing at Mrs. Fell’s left shoulder_] What are you
doing, Nelly?

FLORENCE, MRS. FELL and TEDDY, together.

FLORENCE. [_Out in the right hallway_] Am I the last? [_She hurries
into view and whispers something to Paula at the center-door which
sends Paula into a fit of laughing._]

MRS. FELL. [_To Hossefrosse_] Making more changes. [_He crosses over
to the right in front of Nelly and sits on the piano-stool, back of
Mrs. Pampinelli._]

TEDDY. [_Answering Mrs. Pampinelli_] Yes, I did, Mrs.
Pampinelli, he said he’d have them there all right.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Thank you so much. [_Teddy goes up and crosses above the piano, where he engages Mr. Hossefrosse in conversation._] Hello, Florence! [_Jenny comes into view from the right hallway._]

FLORENCE. [_Coming straight forward from the center-door_] Am I the last? [_The front door-bell rings again, and Jenny turns and goes back into the right hallway again._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. No, but you’re very close to it. How are you, dear?

FLORENCE. Rushed like mad. [_Flipping her lynx muff_] Hello, everybody. Hello, Nelly. [_She swings round to her left._]

MRS. FELL. Hello, Flossie.

FLORENCE. How do you do, Mr. Spindler? [_Hossefrosse gets up and whispers something to Mrs. Pampinelli, in which she agrees._]

SPINDLER. How do you do? [_Ritter bows very graciously to Florence, and Mrs. Ritter comes forward to her husband’s right, eating a piece of cake._]

FLORENCE. [_Extending the muff at arms-length at Ritter_] No, I don’t speak to you at all. [_She removes her stole._]

RITTER. What’s the matter?

FLORENCE. Paula, did you know your husband is becoming very snooty? [_Hossefrosse resumes his seat on the piano-stool._]

MRS. RITTER. [_Sliding her hand through Ritter’s right arm_] Why didn’t you speak to Florence at the station today, Fred?

RITTER. I didn’t see you today.

FLORENCE. Well, my dear, you _must_ be getting old; for Irene Colter and I did everything but stand on our heads to attract your attention. [_On the last word of this sentence she flips one of the tails of the stole at him, and he ducks, as though afraid of getting hurt._] Where shall I put these, Paula? [_Mrs. Pampinelli rises quietly from her chair at the right, and, lost in thought, proceeds slowly and majestically across in front of Mrs. Fell to the middle of the room, tapping her lead-pencil on the note-book._]

MRS. RITTER. I’ll take them. [_She takes the muff and stole from Florence and goes up and out into the right hallway with them._]

FLORENCE. [_Espying Teddy up back of the piano, shading his eyes with his hand, as though trying to see her from a great distance_] Hello, Teddy dear! [_Goes towards him_] What are you doing away back here in the corner? [_She makes a sudden move as though to tickle him in the ribs, but he laughs and jumps away. Mrs. Pampinelli has by this time reached the center of the room, where she stands turning from side to side in a profound indecision as to the relationship of certain positions. She indicates her line of thought by divers pointings and flippings of the lead-pencil. Ritter watches her with narrow amusement; and, presently, Mrs. Fell, who is still occupied with the manuscript at the little table, looks up, distracted by the gyrations of the lead-pencil._]

MRS. FELL. What’s the matter, Betty?

MRS. PAMPINELLI. I was just wondering about a little piece of business here.

SPINDLER. [_Stepping to the back of the arm-chair at the left and leaning over it towards Mrs. Pampinelli_] Can I help you, Mrs. P.?

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Without turning to him_] No, thank you; it’s purely technical. [_He resumes his position at the left corner of the mantelpiece and glances at Ritter, who is obliged to use his handkerchief to hide his amusement. Mrs. Ritter comes in through the door at the right, above the piano._]

MRS. FELL. Betty, did I tell you I saw Clara Sheppard today? [_But Mrs. Pampinelli is still deep in technical profundities, and simply silences her with a gesture of her right hand._]

MRS. RITTER. [_Coming forward at the right of the piano_] Where did you see her, Nelly?

MRS. FELL. Darlington’s, at the mourning counter.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Coming suddenly out of her abstraction, and turning to Mrs. Fell_] Is she going in black?

MRS. FELL. My dear, she’s _in_ it already.

TWILLER. [_Coming in the right hallway_] Good evening!

MRS. PAMPINELLI. She’s very foolish, under the circumstances.

MRS. FELL. That’s just what I told her today.

TWILLER. [_Coming through the center-door and forward at the left of the piano_] Good evening, Mrs. Ritter.

MRS. RITTER. Good evening, Mr. Twiller.

TWILLER. [_To Hossefrosse, casually_] Huxley.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Shifting from the piano-stool to the arm-chair, which Mrs. Pampinelli has just vacated, and proceeding to study his part, which he has taken from his pocket_] Hello, Ralph.

MRS. FELL. Hello, Ralph.

TWILLER. Nelly!

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Still in the middle of the room_] You’re the ten o’clock scholar again tonight, Mr. Twiller. [_Jenny crosses from the right hallway to the left, and goes out._]

TWILLER. I’m awfully sorry, Mrs. P., really; but the fates seem to be against me. [_Teddy gives a little whistle at him. He turns and sees him, standing with Florence, up back of the piano._] Hello, Teddy! [_He goes towards him, and Teddy shoots at him with his thumb and forefinger, by way of reply. Florence smiles and extends her left arm and hand towards him._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI and TWILLER, together.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Moving over from the middle of the room to the left
of Mrs. Fell, who is still at the table below the piano_] What was
that you were saying, Nelly, about Clara Sheppard?

TWILLER. Flossie, dear, I didn’t see you two up here! [_He takes
Florence’s hand and kisses it. Then he crosses to the left and shakes
hands with Ritter; then over to Spindler, and then starts back towards
Florence, at the piano. As he passes Ritter, Ritter taps him on the
right shoulder; he turns, and Ritter asks him something. He replies,
and they stand chatting for a moment; then Ritter indicates the
partition-seat behind them and they sit down, to talk it over._]

MRS. FELL. Why, I simply told her--I said, “Don’t be spectacular, dear; it’ll only make it more difficult for you when you want to marry again. And,” I said, “you probably _will_ marry again,”--[_Spindler sits on the chair below the door at the left._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Of course she will.

MRS. FELL. “For you’re a comparatively young woman. So,” I said, “just get through the next few months as undramatically as possible. [_Jenny enters in the left hallway and takes empty glasses off._] I know he was your _first_ husband, and all that; but, after all,” I said, “he was _only_ your husband: it isn’t as though you’d lost someone who was very _close_ to you”--[_She turns her head and speaks directly to Mrs. Pampinelli._] Like one of your own people, [_Turning to Mrs. Ritter, who is standing at her right_] or something like that, I mean. “And,” I said, “another thing, darling,--_always remember_--he’d have very soon put another in _your_ place if it had been you.” [_She finishes the remark to Mrs. Pampinelli._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Knowingly, and with conviction_] I should say he would.

MRS. FELL. [_Reaching for her hand-bag_] And I felt like saying, “And I could give you the names and addresses right now of _several_ that he would have put in your place _long ago_, only for the law.”

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_With a shade of confidence_] She must have known it.

MRS. FELL. [_Reflecting the tone_] Of _course_, she knew it. [_Florence leaves Teddy, up at the piano, and crosses to Ritter and Twiller, to show them a piece of music. They rise, and she indicates a certain point on the sheet; then she continues down to Spindler, who rises at her approach, and shows it to him._]

MRS. RITTER. How is she, Nelly?

MRS. FELL. My dear, she looks a perfect wreck. [_Florence sits on the arm of the arm-chair at the left and Spindler resumes the little chair below the left door, and drawing it a bit closer to the arm-chair. He appears to be telling Florence something very interesting._]

MRS. RITTER. Poor soul.

MRS. FELL. She says no one will _ever_ know how she feels--about losing that part. And she says she simply cannot _wait_ until tomorrow night, [_She turns to Mrs. Pampinelli._] to see Paula’s interpretation of it. [_Mrs. Ritter gives an inane little laugh, and Mrs. Fell turns quickly to her._] She’s heard so much about it. [_Jenny comes in from the left hallway again with fresh glasses. She sets them down on the hallway table and proceeds to arrange them._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Is she coming to the performance tomorrow night?

MRS. FELL. She says she’ll see that performance, if she has to disguise herself.

MRS. RITTER. Doesn’t that sound just like her? [_Nelly nods agreement._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Yes,--she’s so full of dramatic instinct.

MRS. FELL. [_With a touch of bitterness_] He never appreciated it though.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. My dear, has _any_ artist _ever_ been adequately appreciated?

MRS. RITTER. I understand he was very heavily insured.

MRS. FELL. Oh, yes!

MRS. PAMPINELLI. She _seemed_ very optimistic when I spoke to her on the telephone.

MRS. FELL. I believe your husband’s company had him insured for quite a lot, didn’t they, Paula?

MRS. RITTER. [_Lowering her tone_] I believe they did, Nelly,--but I couldn’t say for just how much.

MRS. FELL. [_Quietly detaching herself_] I must find that out. [_She passes back of Mrs. Pampinelli and across towards Ritter. Mrs. Ritter and Mrs. Pampinelli continue in conversation._] Frederick, I want to ask you something. [_He steps forward, excusing himself to Twiller._] Pardon me, Ralph.

TWILLER. That’s all right, Nelly. [_He crosses again to Teddy._]

MRS. FELL. Frederick, what did you think when you heard Jimmy Sheppard was dead?

RITTER. Why, I thought he was dead, of course. [_Mrs. Ritter leaves Mrs. Pampinelli, passing back of her, and goes up to assist Jenny with her arrangements. Mrs. Pampinelli busies herself with making notations on the margin of the manuscript, at the little table._]

MRS. FELL. [_Flipping the tip of her fan in his face_] Oh, did you, Smarty! [_Ritter raises his right hand, as though to ward off the blow._] Well, listen, Frederick. [_He attends, and she becomes confidential._] He left quite a bit of insurance, didn’t he?

RITTER. Yes--about three hundred thousand, I believe.

MRS. FELL. [_Becoming generally stoney_] Is there a will, do you know?

RITTER. I don’t know; I suppose there is.

MRS. FELL. Well, I hope she was sharp enough to see that there is. Because if there isn’t, you know, she’s only entitled to a third in this state. That’s all the widow’s entitled to. And, you know, Frederick, Clara Sheppard could never in this world get along on a bare hundred thousand dollars; you know that as well as I do.

RITTER. Well, she has quite a bit of money of her own, hasn’t she?

MRS. FELL. Oh, tons of it, yes; but there’s no sense in using her own if she can use his. [_Ritter glances at her, but she has turned away slightly to cough, behind her fan. Jenny goes out at the left hallway._] Was sudden, wasn’t it?

RITTER. Yes, it was.

MRS. FELL. We were terribly inconvenienced. Because I’d simply _deluged_ my friends with tickets. [_Mrs. Ritter is up at the punch-bowl, sampling the punch and nibbling at the cakes._]

RITTER. I can’t understand why you didn’t postpone the show.

MRS. FELL. That’s what _I_ wanted to do; but Mrs. P. here was superstitious.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Catching her name, and straightening up from the manuscript, imperiously_] What are you saying about Mrs. P., Nelly Fell?

MRS. FELL. Why, Frederick was wondering why we didn’t postpone the performance when Jimmy Sheppard died,--and _I_ told him you were superstitious about a postponement.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. No, Nelly, I was not superstitious, so please don’t say that I was; I shouldn’t care to have such an impression get abroad.

MRS. FELL. [_Touching her hair_] Well, you were something, Betty.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Yes, Nelly, I admit that I was something,--but it was not superstitious. I was,--[_She looks out and away off, and feels for the word._] intuitive. [_She turns her head and looks directly at Ritter, who drops his eyes to the tip of his cigar. Nelly Fell, following Mrs. Pampinelli’s eyes, looks at Ritter also. Then everyone’s eyes shift to Mrs. Pampinelli. Florence turns languidly and looks; and Mrs. Ritter, with a glass of punch in one hand, and a small cake in the other, moves forward, in the middle of the room, and stands looking and listening--and chewing. Hossefrosse steps over to the table behind which Mrs. Pampinelli is standing, and takes the manuscript,--returning with it to the arm-chair, and becoming absorbed in a comparison of a certain page of it with his individual part._] I have struggled so long to inaugurate a Little Theatre Movement in this community, that I had intuitively anticipated the occurrence of some obstacle to thwart me; so that, when the telephone-bell rang, on the night of Mr. Sheppard’s death, I said to myself, before I even took down the receiver, [_She plants her lead-pencil on the table and assumes something of the aspect of a crusader._] “_This_ is my event. Something has happened--that is going to put my sincerity in this movement to the test. And I must remember, as Mr. Lincoln said at Gettysburg, ‘It is better that we should perish, than that those ideals for which we struggle should perish.’” [_She turns her gaze in the direction of Ritter, but Mrs. Ritter is first in the line of vision, with her eyes full of the coast of Greenland, and her mouth full of cake. As she becomes suddenly conscious that Mrs. Pampinelli has stopped talking and is looking directly at her, she meets the look and breaks into an utterly irrelevant little laugh._]

RITTER. It’s a singular thing, but I’ve noticed that invariably there’s a _fatality_ connected with these amateur performances.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Unfortunately, that is true, Mr. Ritter, I agree with you. But then, we are not dismayed; we have the lessons of history to fortify us; for whenever the torch of essential culture has been raised, [_She raises the lead-pencil as though it were a torch._] there has unfailingly been the concomitant exactment of a human life. [_She stands holding the torch aloft until the little cuckoo-clock over the door at the left cuckoos the half-hour. Ritter looks at it, and Nelly Fell gives it a glance. Florence, too, turns and looks up. Then Mrs. Pampinelli turns her eyes slowly upon it and withers it with a look._] Well, children, it’s eight-thirty,--[_She gathers up her train and tosses it across her left arm, then comes around to the right in front of the table where she has been standing. Mrs. Ritter returns to the table in the hallway and sets down her empty glass. Ritter goes up after her and she fills him out a drink. Florence rises from the arm of the chair, and, passing in front of the table at the left, goes up and across back of the piano and out the door, at the right. As she passes above the piano she says something to Teddy, who has come down at the right of the piano, from his late position up near the door, and is crossing below it. Twiller turns and goes out through the center-door and stands leaning over the partition in the right hallway. Hossefrosse rises, settles his clothes and clears his throat. Mr. Spindler, also, has risen, and is replacing his chair back against the wall, below the door._] Time we went “unto the breach” once more.

MRS. FELL. [_Stepping forward a little to the center of the room, and stretching her hand towards Mr. Hossefrosse_] You have my props, Huxley.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Crossing below the table, to give her the manuscript_] I beg your pardon, Nelly; I was just looking at something here.

MRS. FELL. Thanks. [_She pulls him towards her and whispers something._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Standing at the left of the little table_] Have you my other pencil, Mr. Spindler?

SPINDLER. [_Hurrying across towards her_] I believe you left it over here on this little table. [_He passes below Teddy, who is just crossing to the left, and continues on between the piano and the table to the little table below the casement-window. Nelly Fell breaks into a shrill giggle, pushes Hossefrosse towards the center-door, and crosses to the left, passing below the table. She is in a violent state of laughter. Hossefrosse goes on up to the center-door, and, excusing himself to Ritter, who is standing there drinking, passes out into the right hallway. Teddy comes around back of the arm-chair at the left and sits in the arm-chair. Mrs. Pampinelli has moved to the right of the table below the piano, where she stands reviewing her notes._]

MRS. FELL. [_To Teddy, confidentially, as she takes up her position on the chair below the door at the left_] I’ll tell you later. [_She sits down._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Tapping her lead-pencil on the table and addressing them generally_] Now, folks,--[_Ritter sets his glass on the table and steps into the right hallway, where he converses with Twiller for a second, then stands listening; while Mrs. Ritter hurries in and settles herself on the partition-seat at the left and listens attentively._] you understand, of course, that the setting will be just as it was at the Civic Club on the fourteenth; only, of course, as you know, the stage at Hutchy Kutchy is considerably larger. That, however, need not concern us particularly, as the entrances and exits will be relatively the same. [_She finishes this speech to Mr. Spindler, who is standing at her right, waiting for her to take the lead-pencil._] Oh, thank you, Mr. Spindler. [_She gives him the one she has--simply an exchange of pencils, and he salutes and returns to a position below the casement-window. Florence comes in at the right door again, wearing her furs, and comes down at the right of the piano. Mrs. Pampinelli moves a little towards the center-door._] Are you going to watch the rehearsal, Mr. Ritter?

MRS. FELL. Of course, he is!

RITTER. [_Coming through the center-door_] If I wouldn’t be in the way.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Not at all,--very glad to have you.

MRS. FELL. He can sit over here with the promptress. [_He crosses towards Nelly, picking up the little chair above the table at the left, as he passes. Hossefrosse emerges from the right hallway carrying a light, soft hat, a cane and gloves, and stands in the center-door. Florence steps across below the piano and asks Mrs. Pampinelli something._] If you can behave yourself. [_Florence returns to the corner of the piano nearest the window and drapes herself on it. She’s a very gorgeous-looking thing, in a sleeveless gown of canary-colored metallic silk, made quite daringly severe, to exploit the long, lithe lines of her greyhound figure. There’s a chain-effect girdle with the dress, of vivid jade, worn loose, and an ornament of the same jade on the left shoulder, from which the goods falls in a plain drape down in front of the arm to the bottom of the skirt. She has a perfect shock of hair,--rather striking,--a kind of suspicious auburn; and she has it bobbed. Her slippers and stockings are white._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. You needn’t sit there yet, Teddy, I’m going to run through the last scene first,--

TEDDY. [_Rising_] Oh, all right.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. For Mr. Hossefrosse’s lines. [_Teddy passes in front of the table at the left and goes up to the center-door and out into the right hallway, where he chats with Twiller and watches the proceedings over the partition. Spindler comes over and asks Mrs. Pampinelli something. Ritter places his chair beside Nelly’s, above it, and sits down, assuming the attitude of a lover._]

MRS. FELL. [_Pushing Ritter’s arm away_] Stop it, Frederick Ritter! Paula! [_Spindler returns to his post._]

MRS. RITTER. [_Inanely_] Behave yourself, Fred.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Now, folks,--[_She moves slowly down and across towards the table at the left._] Mr. Spindler will attend to the various cues tonight, and at the performance tomorrow night as well. [_Speaking directly to Nelly_] So we won’t have to bother about that. [_Turning round to her left and addressing the others_] He will do all the rapping. [_She raps a little._] And he has a little telephone-bell of his own, [_She moves across again towards the back of the table at the right._] which he has very kindly tendered the use of. Have you that bell with you tonight, Mr. Spindler? [_He holds out a bell and battery arrangement on a piece of wood, having taken it from his pocket immediately she referred to it, and rings it twice._] Splendid. [_She passes above the table and comes forward at the right of it, very thoughtfully._] That’s splendid. [_Spindler replaces the battery._] Now, children,--[_She crosses in front of the table._] I think, first, I should like to take that scene at the finish, between Doctor Arlington and his wife; [_She is standing at the left of the table, speaking directly to Hossefrosse, who is standing in the center-door, with his hat on, at a rather absurd angle, and holding his cane in one hand and his gloves in the other, in a very stilted fashion. Hossefrosse is a terribly well-fed-looking person in dinner clothes, perhaps, thirty-eight years of age,--flamingly florid of complexion, and with an effusiveness of manner that is probably only saved from absolute effervescence by the ponderous counterpoise of his dignity._] there are a few little things in there I want to correct. [_Crossing over back of the table at the left towards Mrs. Fell_] Page eighteen or nineteen, I think it is, Nelly. It’s the scene at the finish between Mr. Hossefrosse and Miss McCrickett. [_Nelly looks for the place, through her lorgnon._] Oh! [_Mrs. Pampinelli turns back to the others again._] and one thing more I want to mention, boys and girls, before I forget it. [_She takes a funny little coughing spell._] Pardon me. [_She coughs again._] Oh, dear me! [_She closes her eyes tight and shivers her head._]

MRS. FELL. Page eighteen did you say it was, Betty?

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Eighteen or nineteen, yes. It’s somewhere right in there.

MRS. FELL. Oh, yes, here it is, I have it.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Turning back to the people, and speaking with careful emphasis_] When you are going on and off the stage, be very careful of those little wooden strips that they have across the bottoms of the doors, and don’t trip. [_Mrs. Ritter laughs self-consciously and Hossefrosse leans over and says something to her. Florence laughs, and turns and says something to Spindler, and Teddy and Twiller laugh and look toward Mrs. Ritter._]

MRS. FELL. [_Looking out around Mrs. Pampinelli to see Mrs. Ritter_] Paula! [_Then she sits back, laughing, and says something to Ritter._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. I really think that was what made some of you so nervous at the Civic Club the last time. So, watch it, all of you, for they will probably have just the same thing down at Hutchy Kutchy.--There is perhaps nothing quite so disconcerting as to trip--as one comes on a stage. Going off--is not so bad; but--coming on, I have found that it requires a _tremendous_ artist to rise above it. [_She starts down towards the table at the right, below the piano._] So, watch it, all of you. Now, is everybody in his place? [_She stops below the table and picks up her note-book._]

MRS. FELL. [_Handing Ritter the manuscript and getting up suddenly_] Oh, just one moment, Betty! [_She teeters across to the table at the right._] I want to get my other glasses--they’re right here in my bag. [_She picks up the bag and starts back to her place._] I beg pardon, everybody, but I can’t tell one letter from another without these glasses. [_This last sentence culminates in a flighty giggle, for no reason at all, and then she sits down, and heaves a deep sigh of amusement._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Who has been looking at her steadily_] _Now_, is everybody ready? [_Mrs. Fell simply lifts her eyes and looks at her; then proceeds to get her glasses out of the bag._] Use your voices, children, and try to do it tonight just as you are going to do it tomorrow night at Hutchy Kutchy. [_She moves a step or two nearer the middle of the room._] Doctor Arlington is still in his office.

HOSSEFROSSE. Yes.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Mr. Rush--

TWILLER. [_Coming in through the center-door_] Yes.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Is just about to make his exit. [_He crosses above the piano and stands waiting at the right door. He’s a bald-headed youth, between thirty and thirty-five, in dinner clothes, excessively well-groomed but utterly nondescript._] And Mrs. Arlington is putting on the deadlatch. [_Florence straightens up._] All ready, now? [_She holds up her hands for a second, then claps them once._] All right. [_Twiller goes out through the right door and Mrs. Pampinelli moves over towards the right, watching Florence._]

FLORENCE. [_Pretending to put on a deadlatch_] Deadlatch.

SPINDLER. [_Standing in rigid military fashion_] Click--click. [_Florence turns and starts across towards the middle of the room, passing between the piano and the table below it._]

FLORENCE. [_Glancing toward the center-door_] You can come out now, Clyde, they’ve gone. [_She continues to the table at the left and stands resting one hand upon it._]

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Bustling forward from the center-door, removing his hat as he comes_] Anybody here, David? [_Spindler whistles shrilly, takes a step forward and tries to attract Hossefrosse’s attention, by holding up his right arm and flicking his fingers at him. Teddy laughs and turns to tell Twiller, who is just rejoining him from the right hallway, what has happened. Florence turns and looks at Hossefrosse, then at Mrs. Pampinelli, who is standing at the right of the table below the piano. Mrs. Ritter gets up and simply staggers laughing through the center-door and out to Teddy and Twiller._]

FLORENCE. [_Speaking to Mrs. Pampinelli_] That isn’t right, is it?

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Turning to Spindler at her right and holding up her hand_] Please don’t whistle, Mr. Spindler! I can’t stand whistling.

FLORENCE. I thought we were going to take the _last_ scene first.

MRS. PAMPINELLI and MRS. FELL, together.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Moving around in front of the table and going
near to Hossefrosse_] We are taking the _last_ scene _first_, Mr.
Hossefrosse, that is the _first_ scene.

MRS. FELL. [_Holding up her hand_] Wait a moment, wait one moment,
just one moment, somebody’s off the track! [_Twiller and Teddy laugh
again and Hossefrosse turns and looks at them. Twiller shakes his
head, flips his hand at him and walks away into the right hallway, as
though deploring his stupidity. Ritter begins to laugh._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. I thought I had made that sufficiently clear.

MRS. PAMPINELLI, MRS. FELL, SPINDLER and TWILLER, together.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. We are taking the scene at the finish, Mr.
Hossefrosse, between you and Miss McCrickett.

MRS. FELL. [_Rising_] That’s the first scene, Huxley, and we are
taking the last scene, between you and Florence, on page nineteen,
right here, [_She indicates the place in the manuscript_].

SPINDLER. [_Addressing Teddy_] I hope he doesn’t pull anything like
that tomorrow night. [_He returns to his place below the window._]

TWILLER. [_Coming back into view from the hallway_] Don’t weaken,
Huxley, you know what they say about a bad rehearsal.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Topping them all_] Please, children, please!

MRS. FELL. Down at the bottom of the page. [_Mrs. Ritter comes through the center-door again and sits down on the left partition-seat._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Speaking directly to Mrs. Fell_] Please--[_Mrs. Fell sits down again, slowly, Mrs. Pampinelli looking at her stonily._] Let us have one director, if you please. [_She withdraws her eyes slowly, and Nelly darts a bitter look at her._] Now, don’t let us have everybody talking at once; it only confuses people, and wastes a lot of time. [_Hossefrosse stands bewildered in the middle of the room. Mrs. Pampinelli addresses him directly, speaking with measured emphasis._] We are taking the _last_ scene _first_, Mr. Hossefrosse: it is the scene at the finish, between you and Miss McCrickett, just before Paula comes on,--

HOSSEFROSSE. Oh, I beg your pardon!

MRS. PAMPINELLI. And _after_ Mr. Rush has left the stage.

HOSSEFROSSE. I thought we were beginning right from the beginning.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. No, I’d like to run through the _last_ scene _first_, if you don’t mind; there are a few little things in it I’d like to correct.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Turning and starting for the center-door_] This was the wrong entrance for that line, anyway.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. And you won’t need your hat and cane in this scene.

HOSSEFROSSE. That’s so, too.

TWILLER. [_Who is standing out just at the right of the center-door_] I’ll take them, Hux.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Handing him the hat, gloves and cane_] Thanks. [_Turning to Mrs. Ritter_] I’ll get straightened out after while. [_Paula laughs._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Now, Florence dear, will you go back?

FLORENCE. [_Crossing back again to the window_] Certainly.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Crossing back to the right, in front of the table_] And take it right from Mr. Rush’s exit.

FLORENCE. [_Looking round at Hossefrosse_] Ready?

HOSSEFROSSE. [_In the center-door_] Yes, I’m ready.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_To Florence_] Go on.

FLORENCE. [_Repeating her former business of putting on a deadlatch_] Deadlatch.

SPINDLER. [_Having again assumed his rigid military attitude_] Click--click. [_Florence turns and crosses again between the piano and the table._]

FLORENCE. [_With a glance at the center-door_] You can come out now, Clyde, they’ve gone. [_She continues to her former position at the right of the little table at the left. Hossefrosse steps resolutely through the center-door, gives her a wicked look, glances toward the door at the right, then strides forward and plants himself directly opposite her, his head thrown back, his eyes ablaze, and his arms akimbo._]

HOSSEFROSSE. Did you come here to make a scene!

FLORENCE. [_Languidly, and without turning_] Have I made one?

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Getting loud_] What are you doing here?

FLORENCE. [_Raising her hand to enjoin silence_] Sh-sh--[_He turns abruptly and looks toward the door at the right; then back to her again._]

HOSSEFROSSE. I want an explanation of this!

FLORENCE. [_Turning to him, and rather casually_] So do I.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Standing at the right of the table below the piano_] Oh, more imperious, Florence dear! [_Florence and Hossefrosse look at her._] More of this. [_She lifts her shoulders, eyebrows and chin, to illustrate her idea of the general hauteur of the line._] Much more.

FLORENCE. [_Vaguely_] Don’t you think she would cry there? [_Mrs. Pampinelli looks at her steadily for a pause and thinks: then she rests her lead-pencil on the table and tilts her head a bit to one side._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Do you want to cry there, dear?

FLORENCE. No, but I can if you want me to.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. No,--personally, I think she’s speaking more in anger than in sorrow. You see, dear, you are impersonating a wronged wife. Now, you yourself, Florence darling, are an unmarried girl:--it is difficult for you to realize how excessively annoyed with her husband a married woman can become. I think I would take it with more _lift_. More of this, you know. [_She repeats her former illustration._]

FLORENCE. [_Endeavoring to imitate the manner of delivery, and speaking in a deep, tragic tone_] So do I.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Perfect.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Turning to Mrs. Pampinelli_] Go on?

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Yes, go on.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Clearing his throat and trying to summon his attack_] What is your reason for sneaking into my office at this hour?

FLORENCE. Is it necessary that your wife have a reason for coming to your office?

HOSSEFROSSE. You wanted to embarrass Mrs. Rush, that was it, wasn’t it?

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Waving her hand toward them with an upward movement_] Tempo, children!

FLORENCE. I wanted to meet my rival.

HOSSEFROSSE. You could have met Mrs. Rush under more candid circumstances.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Moving around towards them, in front of the table_] Tempo, children!

FLORENCE. The present ones suited my purposes better.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Turning away impatiently_] Naturally!--You wanted a scene! [_He starts over to the right, but Mrs. Pampinelli is standing right in his way, so he stops short, but maintains the physical tautness of his character. Florence, too, has turned away, to the left, and is moving across in front of the table towards the arm-chair._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Oblivious of Hossefrosse, and still making her upward waving gesture over his shoulder_] Tempo, Florence! [_Suddenly becoming conscious that she is obstructing Hossefrosse’s cross, and stepping below him_] I beg your pardon.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Bowing stiffly_] Not at all. [_He continues over to the right and stops, right in front of Spindler, and they stand looking into each other’s eyes; while Mrs. Pampinelli comes up at the left of the table to the piano._]

FLORENCE. [_Sitting down in the arm-chair_] I think if I were a scenic woman I’ve had ample opportunity during the last fifteen minutes to indulge myself.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Still looking into Spindler’s eyes_] You did I think;--

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Beckoning to Spindler_] Mr. Spindler.

HOSSEFROSSE. I had the pleasure of hearing you.

FLORENCE. Was it a pleasure, Clyde?

MRS. PAMPINELLI and HOSSEFROSSE, together.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Still beckoning to Spindler_] Mr. Spindler!

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Whirling around and glaring at Florence_] It appears to
amuse you! [_Spindler steps below Hossefrosse and passes up in front
of him to Mrs. Pampinelli, who whispers something to him._]

FLORENCE. [_Unfastening her neckpiece_] I have an inopportune sense of humor.

HOSSEFROSSE. You should be able to appreciate the situation, you created it!

FLORENCE. [_Looking over at him_] I didn’t create her husband.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Making a little gesture of annoyance_] I’m afraid I’m stuck! [_He tries hard to think, and Mrs. Pampinelli makes a gesture toward Mrs. Fell to give him the line, but Nelly is occupied in telling Ritter a story._] But, don’t tell me! [_He feels for the line again, and Mrs. Pampinelli tries to attract Nelly’s attention._] I guess I’m gone. [_Suddenly Nelly bursts into a fit of laughing, having made the point of the story._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. What is the line, Nelly? [_Ritter nudges her._]

MRS. FELL. [_Stopping suddenly in her laughter and hitting him with her fan_] Stop that!

RITTER. Get on your job, you’re holding up the show. [_Nelly looks excitedly toward Mrs. Pampinelli._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. What is the line, Nelly, please.

MRS. FELL. What! Oh, I beg your pardon, is somebody stuck?

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Mr. Hossefrosse.

HOSSEFROSSE. Got another mind-blank.

MRS. FELL. Oh, well, now, just wait one minute, please, till I see where I’m at. [_She searches frantically through the manuscript._] Oh, yes, here it is! [_Ritter indicates a place on the page. She pushes his arm out of the way._] I didn’t create her husband. [_Teddy and Twiller laugh._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI, FLORENCE and HOSSEFROSSE, together.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. No, dear, we’ve just passed that.

FLORENCE. I’ve already said that, Nelly.

HOSSEFROSSE. It’s the next line.

MRS. FELL. [_Vaguely, and looking through her lorgnon and spectacles at the manuscript_] Oh, have we passed that!

MRS. PAMPINELLI. The next line after the one you just read.

MRS. FELL. Oh, I see now where we are! The next line after that is, “You’ve all been listening to a lot of damned, cheap gossip.”

MRS. PAMPINELLI and HOSSEFROSSE, together.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. That’s it.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_To Mrs. Pampinelli_] That certainly is my Jonah line.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. You’ve all been list--[_Spindler goes around to the right and sits on the piano-stool, looking near-sightedly at the music._]

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Turning to Florence, and assuming his character again_] You’ve all been listening to a lot of damned, cheap gossip! [_He starts to cross towards the left, passing between the piano and the table, but Mrs. Pampinelli is right in his way again, so he is obliged to stop short and wait._]

FLORENCE. Which should show you that people are talking. [_Mrs. Pampinelli turns to see why Hossefrosse is not picking up his line._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Stepping out of his way_] I beg your pardon. [_She circles down at the left of the table again._]

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Continuing over towards the mantelpiece_] My fault. One or two old women, perhaps.

FLORENCE. Will it confine itself to those?

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Turning at the mantelpiece and coming back to the middle of the room_] Well, I can’t control that.

FLORENCE. Have you tried?

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Whirling upon her, and literally shouting_] No!

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Standing at the right of the table below the piano_] Excellent.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Turning and bowing briefly to her_] Thank you very much. [_Resuming the scene with Florence_] And I don’t intend to. People will always talk; it may as well be at my expense as anybody else’s.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Leaning towards him across the table, and speaking with poisonous sweetness_] Anybody’s _else_, dear.

HOSSEFROSSE. Beg pardon?

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Would you say anybody’s else; it sounds better.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Turning back again to Florence_] It may as well be at my expense as anybody else’s. [_Mr. Spindler’s elbow slips off the piano onto the keyboard, striking a perfectly villainous chord, and causing everybody to turn and look in that direction._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Mr. Spindler, please.

SPINDLER. [_Adjusting his goggles, which have been slightly dislodged by the incident_] I’m sorry. [_Mrs. Pampinelli turns back to Hossefrosse._] Never mind, Mr. Hossefrosse, it will come.

FLORENCE. Your position can’t afford it.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Taking a step towards the right_] I’ve given them nothing to talk about.

FLORENCE. No? [_He stops abruptly and turns and looks at her._]

HOSSEFROSSE. What? [_He takes a couple of steps towards her._]

FLORENCE. [_Rising_] Please, Clyde!--[_She crosses in front of the table at the left and goes towards him. Mrs. Ritter gets up from the partition-seat and comes down to the table at the right, below the piano._] You’re not talking to your office-boy--[_Mrs. Ritter picks up the little chair from the left of the table and starts back again towards the center-door._] Let us get to the point.

HOSSEFROSSE. Very well.

MRS. RITTER and HOSSEFROSSE, together.

MRS. RITTER.--Excuse me, Florence. [_Florence bows and smiles._] And
you, too, Mr. Hossefrosse.

HOSSEFROSSE. What brought you here tonight? [_He turns to see the
cause of the movement behind him._] Don’t mention it. [_Mrs. Ritter
places the chair in front of the partition where she has been sitting,
then crosses to the piano and gets her sewing-basket, returning with
it to the chair and sitting down to sew._]

FLORENCE. Not to quarrel with you, for one thing.

HOSSEFROSSE. You wanted to embarrass Mrs. Rush, that was it, wasn’t it?

FLORENCE. Not at all,--you misunderstood me; I said, “I wanted to _meet_ Mrs. Rush.” [_Teddy comes in through the center-door from the right hallway and sits down on the partition-seat at the right. Teddy is a frail little wisp of a youth around twenty, in dinner clothes. He has big eyes and good teeth, and laughs on the slightest provocation. His forehead is defectively high, and his thin hair is plastered back and brilliantined. His type is always to be found draped upon the banisters or across the pianos in the houses of the rich,--a kind of social annoyance, created by wealthy connections and the usual lack of available men._]

HOSSEFROSSE. What did you want to meet her for? [_Twiller steps through the center-door from the right hallway and whispers something to Mrs. Ritter. She answers him, and he steps out into the hallway and fills himself out a glass of claret from the bowl, then goes up and sits on the landing of the stairway and watches the rehearsal._]

FLORENCE. Why, I thought that we three might--reason together, [_He holds her eye for a second, then turns away, and reaches in his various pockets for his cigarettes._] concerning our respective futures.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_In a lowered tone, to Mrs. Pampinelli_] Forgot my cigarettes.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Never mind, I only want lines. Go on, Florence. [_Hossefrosse takes an imaginary cigarette from an imaginary case, replaces the case, taps the cigarette on the back of his hand, puts it in his mouth, strikes an imaginary match on his shoe, and lights the cigarette._]

FLORENCE. I’ve deferred the discussion for a long time, but it may as well be today as tomorrow.

HOSSEFROSSE. Your plan didn’t work out very well, did it?

FLORENCE. Oh, yes, very well indeed; although hardly as I had anticipated; thanks to _her_ husband and _your_ lies. [_He blows out the imaginary match and tosses it onto the floor at the right; then snaps his head around and glares at Florence. Mrs. Pampinelli glances down onto the floor, as though to assure herself that Mr. Hossefrosse hasn’t really thrown a lighted match onto the carpet._] You’ve evidently told this boy here that Mrs. Rush is your wife.

HOSSEFROSSE. I’ve told him nothing of the kind! [_He starts to cross again to the right, but Mrs. Pampinelli is again right in his pathway, standing in front of the table below the piano._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Stepping below him, and going a step or two nearer Florence_] I beg your pardon.

HOSSEFROSSE. I beg your pardon. [_He continues over to the table below the window at the right and stands there, pretending to smoke._]

FLORENCE. Then, you’ve allowed him to think so.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Looking straight ahead_] That’s business.

FLORENCE. Perhaps it is. It has at least allowed you to be present at the passing of Mrs. Rush. [_She turns and goes towards the back. Mrs. Ritter calls her to her and they start discussing the hang of Florence’s skirt._]

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Whirling around_] You are deliberately misinterpreting this situation! [_He starts to move across towards her, passing between the piano and table._] Yes you are! It’s perfectly ridiculous that a physician cannot take a woman patient without being subjected to the whisperings of a lot of vulgar scandal-mongers! [_Nelly Fell goes into violent laughter at something Ritter has just finished telling her. Florence and Mrs. Ritter continue their discussion of the dress, and Mrs. Pampinelli tries by dint of gesturing to attract Florence’s attention._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Florence dear, please.

FLORENCE. [_Turning suddenly, and continuing her lines_] Oh, I beg your pardon! [_She moves slowly towards the mantelpiece._] This is not a romantic age, Clyde.

HOSSEFROSSE. Mrs. Rush is a patient of mine!

FLORENCE. [_Moving down at the left towards Ritter and Mrs. Fell_] She may have been originally. [_Mrs. Fell bursts out afresh over something else that Ritter whispers._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Flicking her finger at Nelly_] Sh-sh-Nelly.

MRS. FELL. [_To Florence, who is standing looking at her_] I beg your pardon.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Standing in the middle of the room_] She is _now_!

FLORENCE. [_Resting one hand on the arm-chair_] I’m not disputing it. [_He turns away, and stands at the left of the table below the piano._] But she must have a very persistent malady--

MRS. FELL. Just one minute, Flossie--one minute--

FLORENCE. That hasn’t responded to a treatment of more than six years--

MRS. FELL. Flossie, Flossie, Flossie! [_Florence stops and looks at her._] Just a minute. [_She looks sharply at her manuscript._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. What is the matter, Nelly?

MRS. FELL. Oh, I beg your pardon, I thought she’d omitted a line. [_To Florence_] I beg your pardon.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Go on, Florence. [_Ritter says something to Nelly and she hits him with the manuscript._]

FLORENCE. Not to speak of the innumerable changes of air that she’s enjoyed--[_Mrs. Pampinelli, standing over at the right below the piano, takes quite a little coughing spell, and Mrs. Ritter promptly gets up and goes to the punch-bowl to fill her out a glass of punch._] at your expense; and under your personal escort. [_Hossefrosse looks over at her. She raises her hand understandingly, and starts slowly across in front of the table towards him._] I have the day and date of the majority of them. So, you see, your chivalry is a bit trying, under the circumstances. [_He looks straight ahead and tries to look sullen and defeated._]

MRS. RITTER. [_Up in the center-door, holding aloft a glass of punch_] Betty!

FLORENCE. But, I haven’t come here to reproach you, or to plead for your return. Not at all. I think you _love_ this woman.

MRS. RITTER. [_Coming a little further forward_] Betty! [_Mrs. Pampinelli has another coughing spell._]

FLORENCE. And in that case, I want to offer you your freedom--

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Careful, now, children. [_Mrs. Ritter comes forward to the table at the left and tries to attract Mrs. Pampinelli’s attention to the glass of punch._]

FLORENCE. If you want it.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Holding up her forefinger_] One, two, three.

HOSSEFROSSE. [_Snapping his head around and shouting at Florence_] Well, I don’t want it!

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Good!

HOSSEFROSSE. And I see absolutely no occasion for any such talk. [_Mrs. Fell drops her bag and reaches for it._]

FLORENCE. You are probably more broad-minded than I. [_Nelly Fell utters a piercing little shriek, having almost fallen off the chair in reaching to pick up her bag. Everyone turns and looks, and Teddy laughs, as usual._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. What’s the matter, Nelly?

MRS. FELL. [_Straightening up, with Ritter’s assistance, and laughing_] I nearly fell off the chair. [_Mrs. Ritter laughs and returns to the center-door and stands._]

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Go on, Florence.

FLORENCE. And, really, I don’t think your freedom would be a very good thing for you. You have a form of respectability that requires a certain anchorage in the conventions. But unless you can reconcile yourself in the future to a more literal observance of those conventions, I shall be obliged to insist that you _take_ your freedom.

MRS. PAMPINELLI. Look at her, Mr. Hossefrosse.

HOSSEFROSSE. Beg pardon?

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_With a touch of impatience_] Look at her! [_She begins to cough again._]

HOSSEFROSSE. Oh, yes, yes! [_He turns and glares at Florence, who is standing just a couple of feet away from him._]

MRS. RITTER. [_Holding the glass of punch aloft again_] Betty!

FLORENCE. I have a couple of growing boys,--[_Mrs. Pampinelli passes right up between Florence and Hossefrosse to Mrs. Ritter, and takes the glass of claret._] who are beginning to ask me questions which I find too difficult to answer: and I will neither lie to them--nor allow them to pity me.

HOSSEFROSSE. What do you want me to do?

MRS. PAMPINELLI. [_Handing the claret-glass back to Paula, who goes to the bowl and refills it, and the note-book and pencil to Teddy_] Just a moment. [_She turns and comes forward in the middle of the room. Florence turns and moves over to the table at the left, and Hossefrosse remains standing at the table at the right._] Just one moment. Listen, Florence dear. [_She uses her handkerchief, then stuffs it into the bosom of her dress._] I want you, if you can, to make just a little bit more of that last line. Within the limits of the characterization, of course; but if you can _feel_ it, I’d like you to give me just the barest suggestion of a tear. Not too much; but just enough to show that,--under all her courage--and her threatening, she is still a woman--and a Mother. You see what I mean, dear?

FLORENCE. More emotion.