[ALMERIC enters from the grove, leading a bull terrier pup.]

ALMERIC

Mariano, Mariano—I say, Mariano! I say, Aunty, ain't he rippin'? Lucky I got there just as I did—a bounder wanted to buy him five minutes later.

[MARIANO enters from hotel.]

Mariano, do you think you could be trusted to wash him?[pg 169]

MARIANO

Wash him!

ALMERIC

Tepid water, you know; and mind he doesn't take cold; and just a little milk afterward—nothing else but milk, you understand. You be deuced careful, I mean to say.

MARIANO