[Breathlessly.] 'Old 'ard—'old 'ard! Phew! [They rest the trunk on the floor, Tyler dabs his forehead with a small dirty handkerchief, which he passes on to Jane.] Excuse me not offering it to you first, Jane.

JANE.

[Dabbing the palms of her hands.] Don't name it, Tyler. Do you 'appen to know what time Missus starts?

TYLER.

Two-thirty, I 'eard say.

JANE.

It's a queer thing her going away like this alone—not to say nothing of a schoolmistress leaving a lot of foolish young gals for a month or six weeks.

TYLER.

[Sitting despondently on the trunk.] Cook and the parlourmaid got rid of too—it's not much of a Christmas vacation we shall get, you and me, Jane.

JANE.