now, Roberts, and push the ice-pick in." After a season of
experiment with the pick and the penknife: "The bolt won't scratch down.
What are you going to do now, Roberts?"

_Roberts:_ "I don't know."

_Campbell:_ "But you've got to do something, you know. We can't just
give it up. Where are those dress-trousers and waistcoat?" He begins
tumbling the things on the bed, laying some on chairs, letting others
drop to the floor. "Ah, here they are! Now, I'll tell you what,
Roberts, you've got to wear these. Go into your dressing-room there and
put them on, and then we can tell how much they have to be slit up the
back."

_Roberts:_ "But where's the coat, even if I could get the other things
on?"

_Campbell:_ "We'll think about that later. We haven't got any time to
lose in talk. We can pin back the skirts of your frock-coat, as the
travelling Americans used to do when they went to the opera in London.
Hurry up!" He gives Roberts the garments, and pushes him into the door
of his dressing-room, and walks impatiently up and down amidst the chaos
of clothing till Roberts reappears. "Why, that isn't bad!"

_Roberts:_ "Bad? I can't breathe; I feel as if I were being cut in
two!"

_Campbell:_ "Nonsense! That's the way every woman feels when she's
laced. It gives you a beautiful waist, Roberts! Ah, ha, ha, ha! Ha, ha,
ha! O Lord! Oh, mercy! Ah, ha, ha, ha!"

_Roberts:_ "Now, look here, Willis--"

_Campbell_, turning him round, and surveying him from different points:
"No, no! Don't mind _me_! It's just my way, you know. I don't mean
anything by it. I think these things look first-rate on you. There's no
mistake about their giving you a youthful figure; we can just let them
out a few stitches, and you'll be perfectly comfortable. The only thing
now is the coat. I'm afraid that pinning back wouldn't do. We'd better
try something else. I'll tell you! Send down and borrow Merrick's coat!
He's still on the floor below you, I suppose?"

_Roberts:_ "Yes, but he's so thin--"

_Campbell:_ "The very thing! Those thin fellows always have their things
made roomy--"

_Roberts:_ "But he's tall."

_Campbell:_ "That's all right. If you keep these things on you've got to
give in some direction, and you're probably going to stretch." He rings
the bell.

_Roberts:_ "But it's very late. He must be in bed."

_Campbell:_ "I'll fix that." To Bella, as she appears: "Bella, I want
you to go down to the gentleman under here, and ask him if