the extreme
left, proudly._] Madame Godolphin made it, and a 'at to go with it
_ong sweet_.

LILY.

[_To MRS. UPJOHN._] Hu-s-s-sh!

JIMMIE.

Well---- [_sipping her tea as if drinking a toast_] in a cup of tea!

BLAND, DE CASTRO, AND ROPER.

[_Sipping their tea._] In a cup o' tea!

VON RETTENMAYER.

[_Drinking._] In a gob o' dea!

JIMMIE.

[_To VON RETTENMAYER, mockingly._] Gob o' dea!

LILY.

[_Waving her hand._] Thank you, Jimmie. Thank you, dear boys, from the
bottom of my heart.

JIMMIE.

[_To the men._] By Jove, she saved _me_ once from going home to a
cheap lodging and taking a dose of rat-killer!

VON RETTENMAYER.

[_Behind ROPER and DE CASTRO, peeping over their shoulders._] A pidy--
a gread pidy.

JIMMIE.

[_To VON RETTENMAYER._] I'll attend to you presently, Baron.

LILY.

[_To JIMMIE._] I remember. A wretched little shrimp you looked that
day.

JIMMIE.

[_To everybody._] It was my first morning at the Pandora. They'd had
me up from Harrogate in a hurry, to take Gwennie Harker's place. I'd
been playing her part in the Number Two Co. in the country; and she'd
left 'em in a hole, to get married to a stupid lord---- [_To
FARNCOMBE, finding him standing near her._] Sorry. I was to have only
one rehearsal; [_clenching her fist_] and, oh, didn't they treat me
abominably! Miss Ensor was late and we were all hanging about on the
stage, waiting for her. I've never felt so cold in my life, or so
lonely. Not a word of welcome, not a nod, from a single soul; simply a
blank stare occasionally from a haughty beauty with a curled lip! And
at last, when I was on the point of howling, I became conscious that
somebody was watching me-- a tall, pretty thing in a lavender
frock----

DE CASTRO.

[_Sitting in the chair in the middle of the room._] Lil.

JIMMIE.

I caught her eye, and she came straight over to me and sat down beside
me. "Shaky?" she said. "A corpse," I said. And she quietly laid hold
of my hand and held it till Dolly Ensor condescended to stroll in. And
when I got up I asked her who she was, and she told me. "Oh, my God,"
I said, "I'll never forget your kindness! Why, of course, you're the
'Mind the Paint' girl----!"

ROPER, DE CASTRO, AND VON RETTENMAYER.

[_Singing._] "Mind the paint! Mind the paint! Tra, lal, la, lal, la,
lal, la, lal, la, lal, tra, la, la, la----!"

[_BLAND seats himself at the piano and thumps out the air of the
refrain of "Mind the Paint." The