Mrs. Stout entered, followed by her "soot," as she called it, and stood staring at the open book before her—dumb.
"Well?" Miss Sawyer looked up inquiringly.
"Shall I say what I've got to now?" asked Mrs. Stout.
"Yes, but face the audience first." Strange to relate, Mrs. Stout seemed to be confused. She turned, but the wrong way. "No, no," Miss Sawyer corrected, nervously, "this way."
"Oh," said Mrs. Stout, as she faced in the right direction and began to read.
"It's your turn, Mrs. Blake," prompted Miss Sawyer, when Mrs. Stout had read her first line. (One would have thought that they were playing croquet.)
"Oh!" exclaimed Mrs. Blake, all in a flutter, "is it?" and then when she had found the place, read, "'Ready, so please your grace.'"
And so the rehearsal of the famous scene hitched along until the approach of Shylock was announced. Mrs. Tweedie, who was to play the part, was ready, and entered at precisely the right moment with her accustomed assurance. And when Mrs. Stout had waded and stumbled through the long speech of the Duke to Shylock, Mrs. Tweedie, scorning to look at her book, began her lines. She had seen a famous actor play the part, and tried to imitate him, but failed horribly.
Harmony prevailed until Mrs. Jones balked at a word in the text that a lady of the Morning Glory Club would not use—outside of her family circle.