And there Annie staggered forward on to the stage.
"News from Verona!" cried Romeo: "How now, Balthazar?"
Oh, well might he ask "How now?" for, shifting from foot to foot, this stricken Balthazar was already feeling at the nape of her neck, and instead of answering the questions of Romeo about Juliet with the words:
"Then she is well, and nothing can be ill,
Her body sleeps in Capets' monument,
And her immortal part with angels lives;
I saw her laid low in her kindred's vault,
And presently took post to tell it you:
O pardon me for bringing these ill news,
Since you did leave it for my office, sir,"
these were the startling statements he made in gulps and gasps:
"O-Oh, y-yes! Sh-e's very well—and nothing's wrong;
[titter from audience, and amazement on Romeo's face]
H-her immortal parts are in a vault,
I—I saw them laid there, and come to tell you!"
Perhaps she would have got to the right words at last, but just there the wig, pushed too hard, lurched over on one side, giving such a piratical look to the troubled face that a very gale of laughter filled the house, and she retired then and there, though in the next speech she should have refused to leave Romeo:
"Pardon me, sir, I will not leave you thus:
Your looks are pale and wild,"