The curtain went up, and the villagers of Dick Whittington's native place sang a chorus.
All those Blackstable hearts stood still. And Daisy, as Dick Whittington, bounded on the stage--in flesh-coloured tights, with particularly scanty trunks, and her bodice--rather low. The vicar's nephew sniggered, and Mrs Gray gave him a reproachful glance; all the other Blackstable people looked pained; Miss Reed blushed. But as Daisy waved her hand and gave a kick, the audience broke out into prolonged applause; Tercanbury people have no moral sense, although Tercanbury is a cathedral city.
_I'm a jolly sort of boy, tol, lol,_ _And I don't care a damn who knows it._ _I'm fond of every joy, tol, lol,_ _As you may very well suppose it._ _Tol, lol, lol,_ _Tol, lol, lol._
Then the audience, the audience of a cathedral city, as Mr Gray said, took up the refrain,--
However, the piece went on to the bitter end, and Dick Whittington appeared in many different costumes and sang many songs, and kicked many kicks, till he was finally made Lord Mayor--in tights.
Ah, it was an evening of bitter humiliation for Blackstable people. Some of them, as Miss Reed said, behaved scandalously; they really appeared to enjoy it. And even George laughed at some of the jokes the cat made, though his wife and his mother sternly reproved him.
'I'm ashamed of you, George, laughing at such a time!' they said.
Afterwards the Grays and Miss Reed got into the same railway carriage with the Griffiths.
'Well, Mrs Griffith,' said the vicar's wife, 'what do you think of your daughter now?'
'Mrs Gray,' replied Mrs Griffith, solemnly, 'I haven't got a daughter.'
'That's a very proper spirit in which to look at it,' answered the lady.... 'She was simply covered with diamonds.'
'They must be worth a fortune,' said Miss Reed.
'Oh, I daresay they're not real,' said Mrs Gray; 'at that distance and with the lime-light, you know, it's very difficult to tell.'
'I'm sorry to say,' said Mrs Griffith, with some asperity, feeling the doubt almost an affront to her--'I'm sorry to say that I _know_ they're real.'
The ladies coughed discreetly, scenting a little scandalous mystery which they must get out of Mrs Griffith at another opportunity.