The 'Mind the Paint' Girl Part 29

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?