Mr. Snooks: Yes, sir.
Mr. Gilbert: Very well; try again, please.
Mr. Snooks: The King is in the counting-house.
Mr. Gilbert (still politely): Mr. Snooks, don't you appreciate the difference between the accent on "counting" and the accent on "house"? I want the accent on "counting"—counting-house. Surely you have never heard it pronounced in any other way? Try again, and please pay attention.
Mr. Snooks (getting rather nervous): The King is in the counting-HOUSE!
Mr. Gilbert twitches his right whisker, and takes a few paces up and down the front of the stage. Eventually he comes to a standstill, and calmly addresses Mr. Snooks:
"It is my desire to assist you as far as I possibly can, but I must have that sentence spoken properly. I would willingly cut it out altogether; but as it is essential to the story, that course is impossible. If you cannot speak it with the right accent, I shall be reluctantly compelled to give the words to someone else who can. Go back, please, and think before you speak."
Mr. Snooks (endeavouring to think he is "thinking"): The King (pause) is (pause) IN the . . . (very long pause) counting . . . (with a violent effort) HOUSE!!!
Mr. Gilbert (bottling up his fury): We won't bother about your scene now, Mr. Snooks. Get on with the next. Grossmith! Grossmith!! (To Seymour, the stage manager): Where's Mr. Grossmith?
Mr. Grossmith (a very small man, with a still smaller voice): Here I am.