I am!
CIS.
You! [_Seizing MR. POSKET by the collar and shaking him._] You dare to lock up my mother! Come with me and get her out!
[_He is dragging MR. POSKET towards the door, when MR. BULLAMY enters breathlessly._
MR. BULLAMY.
My dear Posket!
CIS.
[_Seizing MR. BULLAMY and dragging him with MR. POSKET to the door._]
Come with me and get my mother out.
MR. BULLAMY.
Leave me alone, sir! She _is_ out! I managed it.
MR. POSKET AND CIS.
[_Together._] How?
MR. BULLAMY.
Wormington sent to me when you were taken ill. When I arrived at the Court, he had discovered, from your man-servant, Mrs. Posket"s awful position.
CIS.
You leave my mother alone! Go on!
MR. BULLAMY.
Said I to myself, "This won"t do, I must extricate these people somehow!" [_To MR. POSKET._] I"m not so d.a.m.ned conscientious as you are, Posket.
CIS.
Bravo! Go on!
MR. BULLAMY.
[_Producing his jujube box._] The first thing I did was to take a jujube.
CIS.
[_s.n.a.t.c.hing the jujube box from him._] Will you make haste?
MR. BULLAMY.
Then said I to Wormington, "Posket was _non compos mentis_ when he heard this case--I"m going to re-open the matter!"
CIS.
Hurrah!
MR. BULLAMY.
And I did! And what do you think I found out from the proprietor of the hotel!
MR. POSKET AND CIS.
What?
MR. BULLAMY.
That this young scamp, Mr. Cecil Farringdon, hires a room at the "Hotel des Princes."
CIS.
I know that.
MR. BULLAMY.
And that Mr. Farringdon was there last night with some low stockbroker of the name of Skinner.
CIS.
Go on--go on! [_Offering him the jujube box._] Take a jujube!
MR. BULLAMY.
[_Taking a jujube._] Now the law, which seems to me quite perfect, allows a man who rents a little apartment at an inn to eat and drink with his friends all night long.
CIS.
Well?
MR. BULLAMY.
So said I from the bench, "These ladies and gentlemen appear to be friends or relatives of a certain lodger in the "Hotel des Princes." "
CIS.
So they are!
MR. BULLAMY.