The Mind the Paint Girl | Page 2

mirror; and in the wall on the left, opposite the console-table, there is a
double-door opening into the room, the further half of which only is
used.
In the entrance to the conservatory, to the right, there is a low, oblong
tea-table at which are placed three small chairs; and near-by, on the
left, are a grand-piano and a music-stool. Against the piano there is a
settee, and on the extreme left, below the door, there is an arm-chair
with a little round table beside it. At the right-hand window in the wall
at the back is another settee, and facing this window and settee there is
a smaller arm-chair.
Not far from the fire-place there is a writing-table with a
telephone-instrument upon it. A chair stands at the writing-table, its
back to the window in the wall on the right; and in front of the table,
opposing the settee by the piano, there is a third settee. On the left of
this settee, almost in the middle of the room, is an arm-chair; and
closer to the settee, on its right, are two more arm-chairs. Other
articles of furniture-- a cabinet, "occasional" chairs, etc., etc.-- occupy
spaces against the walls.
On the piano, on the console-table and cabinet, on the settee at the
back, on the round table, and upon the floor, stand huge baskets of
flowers, and other handsome floral devices in various forms, with cards
attached to them; and lying higgledy-piggledy upon the writing-table
are a heap of small packages, several little cases containing jewellery,
and a litter of paper and string. The packages and the cases of
jewellery are also accompanied by cards or letters.
A fierce sunlight streams down upon the velarium, and through the
green blinds, in the conservatory.

[Note: Throughout, "right" and "left" are the spectators' right and left,
not the actor's.]
[LORD FARNCOMBE, his gloves in his hand, is seated in the
arm-chair in the middle of the room. He is a simple-mannered,
immaculately dressed young man in his early twenties, his bearing and
appearance suggesting the soldier. He rises expectantly as GLADYS, a
flashy parlourmaid in a uniform, shows in LIONEL ROPER, a
middle-aged individual of the type of the second-class City man.
ROPER.
[To FARNCOMBE.] Hul-lo! I'm in luck! Just the chap I'm hunting for.
[Shaking hands with FARNCOMBE.] How d'ye do, Lord Farncombe?
FARNCOMBE.
How are you, Roper?
GLADYS.
[To ROPER, languidly.] I'll tell Mrs. Upjohn you're here.
ROPER.
Ta. [GLADYS withdraws.] Phew, it's hot!
FARNCOMBE.
Miss Parradell's out.
ROPER.
[Taking off his gloves.] She won't be long, I dare say.
FARNCOMBE.
I've brought her a few flowers.

ROPER.
Have you? I've sent her a trifle of jewellery.
FARNCOMBE.
[Glancing at the writing-table.] She seems to have received a lot of
jewellery.
ROPER.
[Bustling across to the table.] By Jove, doesn't she! Ah, there's my
brooch!
FARNCOMBE.
[Modestly.] I didn't consider I'd a right to offer her anything but flowers,
on so slight an acquaintance.
ROPER.
Exactly; but I'm an old friend, you know. [Turning to FARNCOMBE.]
Perhaps, by her next birthday----
FARNCOMBE.
[Smiling.] I hope so.
ROPER.
[Approaching FARNCOMBE and taking him by the lapel of his coat.]
What I want to say to you is, doing anything to-night?
FARNCOMBE.
I-- I shall be at the theatre.
ROPER.

Oh, we shall all be at the theatre, to shout Many Happy Returns. Later,
I mean.
FARNCOMBE.
Nothing that I can't get out of.
ROPER.
Good. Look here. Smythe is giving her a bit of supper in the foyer after
the show, a dance on the stage to follow. About five-and-twenty people.
'Ull you come?
FARNCOMBE.
If Mr. Smythe is kind enough to ask me----
ROPER.
He does ask you, through me. He's left all the arrangements to me and
Morrie Cooling. Carlton never did anything in his life; I egged him on
to this. I've been sweating at it since eleven o'clock this morning.
Haven't been near the City; not near it. Well?
FARNCOMBE.
[His eyes glowing.] I shall be delighted.
ROPER.
Splendid. Been trying to get on to you all day. I've called twice at your
club and at St. James's Place.
FARNCOMBE.
Sorry you've had so much trouble.
ROPER.

[Dropping on to the settee in front of the writing-table and wiping his
brow.] There'll be the Baron, Sam de Castro, Bertie Fulkerson, Stew
Heneage, Jerry Grimwood, Dwarf Kennedy, Colonel and Mrs.
Stidulph-- Dolly Ensor that was-- and ourselves, besides Cooling and
Vincent Bland and the pick o' the Company. Catani does the food and
drink. I don't believe I've forgotten a single thing. [With a change of
tone, pointing to the arm-chair in the middle of the room.] Sit down a
minute. [FARNCOMBE sits and ROPER edges nearer to him.] Are you
going to wait to see Lily this afternoon?
FARNCOMBE.