KING--Stop that infernal racket.
BOY--Big stiff. (_Does not stop machine._)
KING--Where"s my cane?
BOY--You gotta wait till Miss Brown comes back.
KING--You get my cane.
BOY--(_Picking cane up from counter, and hiding it behind him._) I don"t know where she put it. You gotta wait, see?
KING--(_To Bart._) I"d like to jump that cop. Nice fix for us if Mason hadn"t been there.
BOY--(_Stopping machine._) Say, didn"t you do it? What did they let you come back for?
KING--Of course we didn"t do it.
BART--(_To King._) And yet we _are_ guilty of murder.
KING--Luckily for us, the law won"t see it that way.... I"ll double my allowance to her mother.
BART--And I"ll put flowers every week on my Selina"s grave.
KING--We are bound together by ties of death. We must be brave, and face the world serenely.
BART--(_Clasping King"s hand._) And no one must know.
SELINA--(_Peeping around screen._) George King and Bart! My gosh, what a pickle! (_She hurriedly enters the little room back of the screen. Bart and King just catch a glimpse of her as she disappears._)
KING--Sh!
BART--Great heavens, an apparition!
KING--She has come to haunt me.
BART--I shall throw myself at her ghostly feet, and crave pardon.
BART AND KING--(_With outstretched hands._) Selina!
KING--(_Tragically._) That was the spirit of the Selina whom my coldness killed.
BART--It was the spirit of my Selina, who drowned herself for love of me.
KING--How terrible is the vengeance of heaven! It makes the one woman haunt us both.
BART--I shall go mad now.
KING--Bart, I feel my reason tottering.
(_They sit at little table, heads on hands, backs to the entrance door.
Gentleman enters, and goes behind screen._)
GENTLEMAN--It will take about ten minutes more--h.e.l.lo, where have you gone?
SELINA--(_Peeping from room off stage._) Sh!
GENTLEMAN--Why, what"s the mystery?
SELINA--Did you see two men in there, as you came in?
GENTLEMAN--Didn"t notice, but I"ll take a look.
(_Bart and King hide behind counter when Gentleman appears._)
GENTLEMAN--Not a soul but the boy. (_Returns to Selina, who comes into the room, but remains behind screen. Bart and King stay behind counter, but listen intently to Selina and Gentleman._)
KING--Something queer about this.
SELINA--(_To Gentleman._) Flatterer!
GENTLEMAN--I remember the first time I saw you at the opera. By the way, who"s that chap you always go with?
SELINA--(_Lightly._) Oh, that!
BART--Her voice!
GENTLEMAN--He interests me. Seems very sweet on you.
SELINA--Think so?
GENTLEMAN--I have eyes.
SELINA--He"s just a boy.
GENTLEMAN--It"s these young cubs who always run off with the prizes. Are you in love with him?
SELINA--I do not think you have any right to question me.
GENTLEMAN--I beg your pardon for seeming impertinent. I merely ask, so I may know where I stand.
SELINA--Do you think _he_ is the type of man I could love? Frankly, he bores me to death.
BART--Great fish!
GENTLEMAN--I don"t think you bore him.
SELINA--(_Sadly._) Poor boy!
GENTLEMAN--He"s gone on you, isn"t he?