VON RETTENMAYER.
Aha!
COOLING.
[_To STIDULPH._] Over there, Colonel.
FULKERSON.
[_Wandering about._] Where am _I_? Where am _I_?
NITA.
[_Pushing him aside._] Oh, be off!
LILY.
[_Calling._] Jimmie!
COOLING.
[_At his place at a table._] Olga, you"re here. Mr. Grimwood!
FULKERSON.
Where am _I_?
JIMMIE.
[_To FULKERSON._] Next to me, worse luck. [_s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up her face at him._] Ugh!
ROPER.
Ladies" mantles on the second-floor!
COOLING.
Where"s Sybil?
DAPHNE.
[_Calling._] Syb! Syb!
[_The curtain falls, but the music of "Mind the Paint" continues for a while. Then it ceases and, after a short silence, the curtain rises again. The supper-tables have disappeared and the saloon is empty of people. The musicians and their music-stands and stools have also gone, and faintly from the distance comes the sound of a waltz. Two settees, matching the rest of the furniture, now stand in the centre of the saloon back-to-back, one of them facing the counter, the other facing the spectator. LILY"S bouquet lies on the nearer of the two settees, and upon the floor there is a fan, a red rose that has fallen from a lady"s corsage, and a pocket-handkerchief with a powder-puff peeping from it. On the counter there are carafes of lemonade, decanters of spirits and syphons of soda-water, a bowl of strawberries-and-cream, various dishes of cakes, boxes of cigars and cigarettes, a lighted spirit-lamp, and other adjuncts of a buffet.
COLONEL STIDULPH wanders in through the double-door as the waltz comes to an end. Feebly and dejectedly he goes to the counter, takes a cigarette, and is lighting it when LUIGI and the waiters enter the door on the left. Two of the waiters are carrying bottles of champagne in wine-coolers, another brings a tray on which are champagne-gla.s.ses and tumblers, and the bearded waiter follows with a large dish of sandwiches._
LUIGI.
[_Behind the counter-- to STIDULPH, familiarly._] Ain"t you dancing, Colonel?
STIDULPH.
Dancing-- I? [_Shaking his head._] No.
LUIGI.
[_Who speaks c.o.c.kney English with a slight foreign ascent-- cutting the wire of a champagne bottle._] Why, you used to be a regular slap-up dancing man when I first knew you.
STIDULPH.
[_Nodding._] Ah, ah; [_moving away_] my dancing days are done.
LUIGI.
Done! Oh, I like that! I bet you ain"t sixty, come now, eh?
STIDULPH.
What"s the time, Luigi? I haven"t a watch on.
LUIGI.
Time, Colonel? [_Looking at his watch._] Twenty to three.
STIDULPH.
No later? [_Sitting on the settee on the right, with a sigh._] Oh, dear!
[_One of the waiters goes out, in obedience to a direction from LUIGI, at the door on the left as HENEAGE enters with ENID, GRIMWOOD with NITA, and VON RETTENMAYER with MRS. STIDULPH at the right-hand door at the back. A wisp of hair has fallen over HENEAGE"S forehead, GRIMWOOD looks somewhat downcast, and VON RETTENMAYER is obviously bored by MRS. STIDULPH._
ENID.
[_To HENEAGE, walking across to the left._] Never been to Ostend!
You"ve never been born, then. I"m counting the hours to my holiday.
[_Sitting in the chair on the nearer side of the fireplace._] Hotel de la Plage. Why don"t you run over while I"m there?
NITA.
[_To GRIMWOOD, following ENID._] My dear boy, I give you my solemn word it wasn"t you. It was that fool Bertie. Anyhow, it"s a rotten old frock. [_Showing a small rent in her skirt to ENID, gaily._] Pom, pa-ra, rom, pom, pom!
[_HENEAGE and GRIMWOOD go to the counter, secure a waiter, and return with him to ENID and NITA. The waiter receives his orders and presently fetches the ladies gla.s.ses of lemonade._
MRS. STIDULPH.
[_Whispering to VON RETTENMAYER._] Well! Did you ever! Just fancy!
VON RETTENMAYER.
[_Absently, looking at ENID._] I beg your bardon?