SIR TRISTRAM.
[_Savagely to NOAH._] Get out of the way! Georgiana?
GEORGIANA.
Oh, Tris, if this were true how could we break it to the girls?
NOAH.
I could run oop, durin" the evenin", and break it to the girls.
SIR TRISTRAM.
[_Turns upon NOAH._] Look here, all you"ve got to do is to hold your tongue and take down my description of the Dean, and report his disappearance at Durnstone. [_Pushing him into a chair._] Go on!
[_Dictating._] "Missing. The Very Reverend Augustin Jedd, Dean of St.
Marvells." Poor Gus! Poor Gus!
HANNAH.
[_Softly to GEORGIANA._] Lady, lady.
[_NOAH prepares to write, depositing the baking-tin on the table._
GEORGIANA.
[_Turning._] Eh?
HANNAH.
Hush! Listen to me!
[_Speaks to GEORGIANA excitedly._
SIR TRISTRAM.
[_To NOAH._] Have you got that?
NOAH.
[_Writing laboriously with his legs curled round the chair and his head on the table._] Ay. I"m spelling it my own way.
SIR TRISTRAM.
Poor dear old Gus! [_Dictating._] "Description!"
NOAH.
Oh noa!
SIR TRISTRAM.
"Description!"
NOAH.
I suppose he was jest the hordinary sort o" lookin" man.
SIR TRISTRAM.
No, no! "Description!"
GEORGIANA.
[_Turning from HANNAH, excitedly._] Description--a little, short, thin man, with black hair and a squint!
SIR TRISTRAM.
[_To GEORGIANA._] No, no, he isn"t.
GEORGIANA.
Yes, he is!
SIR TRISTRAM.
Georgiana! What are you talking about?
GEORGIANA.
I"m Gus"s sister--I ought to know what he"s like!
SIR TRISTRAM.
Good heavens, Georgiana--your mind is not going?
GEORGIANA.
[_Clutching SIR TRISTRAM"S arm and whispering in his ear, as she points to the cell door._] He"s in there!
SIR TRISTRAM.
Eh!
GEORGIANA.
Gus is the villain found dosing Dandy d.i.c.k last night!
SIR TRISTRAM.