No, no. Spare him!
SHEBA.
You shall not harm a hair of their heads.
[_SIR TRISTRAM twists TARVER"S wig round so that it covers his face.
The gate bell is heard ringing violently._
GEORGIANA, SALOME _and_ SHEBA.
What"s that?
SALOME.
It will wake Papa!
SHEBA.
Stop the bell!
[_GEORGIANA runs to the door and opens it._
SALOME.
[_To TARVER and DARBEY._] Fly!
[_TARVER and DARBEY disappear through the curtains at the window._
SHEBA.
[_Falling into SALOME"S arms._] We have saved them!
GEORGIANA.
Oh, Tris, your man from the stable!
SIR TRISTRAM.
Hatcham!
GEORGIANA.
[_Calling._] Hatcham!
[_HATCHAM, carrying the basin with the bolus, runs in breathlessly--followed by BLORE._
HATCHAM.
Oh, Sir Tristram!
GEORGIANA _and_ SIR TRISTRAM.
What is it?
HATCHAM.
The villain that set fire to the "Swan," sir--in the hact of administering a dose to the "orse!
GEORGIANA.
n.o.bbling our Dandy?
SIR TRISTRAM.
Where is the scoundrel?
HATCHAM.
Topping the constable"s collared him, Sir--he"s taken him in a cart to the lock-up!
GEORGIANA _and_ SIR TRISTRAM.
Oh!
BLORE.
[_In agony._] They"ve got the Dean!
END OF THE SECOND ACT.
THE THIRD ACT.
The first scene is the interior of a country Police Station, a quaint old room with plaster walls, oaken beams, and a gothic mullioned window looking on to the street. A ma.s.sive door, with a small sliding wicket and an iron grating, opens to a prisoner"s cell. The room is partly furnished as a kitchen, partly as a police station, a copy of the Police Regulations and other official doc.u.ments and implements hanging on the wall. It is the morning after the events of the previous act.
_HANNAH, a buxom, fresh-looking young woman, in a print gown, has been engaged in cooking while singing gayly._
HANNAH.
[_Opening a door and calling with a slight dialect._] Noah darling!
NOAH.
[_From another room--in a rough, country voice._] Yaas!
HANNAH.