“But how can we get all this tarlatan and stuff?” said Marguerite.
“I’ll run up to New York,” said Jessie. “I can go in the morning and be back by six o’clock; and you know the success of this thing depends as much on the costume effects as on the music.”
Betty announced that her committee of stage-managers would be increased by the addition of Aunt Molly and Uncle Ned; and this proved a wise arrangement, for it insured attractive stage-settings and a curtain and footlights that worked beautifully.
Hester and Nan, feeling the burden of the libretto heavy upon them, went to work and soon achieved a jolly duet for Marguerite and Uncle Ned, whose voices were most harmonious. The air was from the “Mikado,” and the words were these:
CHAPERON, BURGLAR
(A Duet)
BURGLAR
There’s beauty in the trade of burglary—
There’s a subtle fascination that I feel.
As I search from ground to attic,