[_Mistaking MR. BULLAMY for him._] Oh! how could she! [_To MR. BULLAMY, turning her cheek to him._] I congratulate you--I suppose you ought to kiss me.
[_To himself._] Mrs. Posket's an interfering woman.
[_Pointing to MR. BULLAMY._] Mr. Bullamy.
[_To CHARLOTTE._] Come upstairs, dear; will you have some tea?
No thank you, pet, but I should like a glass of soda water.
Well dear, you can put what you like at the bottom of it.
[_AGATHA POSKET and CHARLOTTE go out, POPHAM following._
[_To CIS._] Give me back my "Bow Bells," when you have read it, you imp.
By Jove, Guv, isn't Aunt Charlotte a stunner?
Posket's got the wrong one! That comes of marrying without first seeing the lady's relations.
Come along, Guv--let's have a gamble--Mr. Bullamy will join us.
[_Opens the card-table, arranges chairs and candles._
Yes--the boy has taught me a new game called "Fireworks;" his mother isn't aware that we play for money, of course, but we do.
He does now--but he says I shall win when I know the game better.
Isn't he a wonderful lad? And only fourteen, too. I'll tell you something else--perhaps you had better not mention it to his mother.
Not _in_--_on_--on Sillikin for the Lincolnshire Handicap. Sillikin to win and Butterscotch one, two, three.
Yes, the dear boy said, "Guv, it isn't fair you should give me all the tips, I'll give you some,"--and he did--he gave me Sillikin and Butterscotch. He'll manage it for you, if you like. "Plank it down," he calls it.
[_Chuckling and choking._] Ha! ha! Ho! ho! [_Taking a jujube._] This boy will ruin me in jujubes.
All ready! Look sharp! Guv, lend me a sov to start with?
A sov to start with? [_They sit at the table. AGATHA POSKET and CHARLOTTE come into the room._] We didn't think you would return so soon, my darling.
Go on amusing yourselves, I insist, only don't teach my Cis to play cards.
[_To CHARLOTTE._] I'm glad of this--we can tell each other our miseries undisturbed. Will you begin?
Well, at last I am engaged to Captain Horace Vale.
Yes--so is he--he says. He proposed to me at the Hunt Ball--in the passage--Tuesday week.
Oh, I said, "Well, if you're going to be as eloquent as all that, by Jove, I can't stand out." So we settled it, in the passage. He bars flirting till after we're married. That's my misery. What's yours, Aggy?