It arrived in the latter part of the last hour (Declamation with Gestures, Movement and Facial Expression — The Complete Classical Scene).
Mr. Quarterstone was demonstrating.
"To be," trumpeted Mr. Quarterstone, gazing ceilingwards with an ecstatic expression, the chest thrown out, the arms slightly spread, "or not to be." Mr. Quarterstone ceased to be. He slumped, the head bowed, the arms hanging listlessly by the sides, the expression doleful. "That — is the question." Mr. Quarterstone pondered it, shaking his head. The suspense was awful. He elaborated the idea. "Whether'tis nobler" — Mr. Quarterstone drew himself nobly up, the chin lifted, the right arm turned slightly across the body, the forearm parallel with the ground — "in the mind" — he clutched his brow, where he kept his mind — "to suffer" — he clutched his heart, where he did his suffering — "the slings" — he stretched out his left hand for the slings — "and arrows" — he flung out his right hand for the arrows — "of outrageous fortune" — Mr. Quarterstone rolled the insult lusciously around his mouth and spat it out with defiance — "or to take arms" — he drew himself up again, the shoulders squared, rising slightly on tiptoe — "against a sea of troubles" — his right hand moved over a broad panorama, undulating symbolically — "and by opposing" — the arms rising slightly from the elbow, fists clenched, shoulders thrown back, chin drawn in — "end them!" — the forearms striking down again with a fierce chopping movement, expressive of finality and knocking a calendar off the table.
"Excuse me," said the brassy blonde, with her head poking round the door. "Mr. Urlaub is here."
"Tchah!" said Mr. Quarterstone, inspiration wounded in mid-flight. "Tell him to wait."
"He said—"
Mr. Quarterstone's eyes dilated. His mouth opened. His hands lifted a little from his sides, the fingers tense and parted rather like plump claws, the body rising. He was staring at the Saint.
"Wait!" he cried. "Of course! The very thing! The very man you've got to meet! One of the greatest producers in the world today! Your chance!"
He leapt a short distance off the ground and whirled on the blonde, his arm flung out, pointing quiveringly.
"Send him in!"