Mrs. Pampinelli. I thought I had made that sufficiently clear.
Mrs. Pampinelli, Mrs. Fell, Spindler and Twiller, together.
Mrs. Pampinelli. We are taking the scene at the finish, Mr. Hossefrosse, between you and Miss McCrickett.
Mrs. Fell. [Rising] That’s the first scene, Huxley, and we are taking the last scene, between you and Florence, on page nineteen, right here, [She indicates the place in the manuscript].
Spindler. [Addressing Teddy] I hope he doesn’t pull anything like that tomorrow night. [He returns to his place below the window.]
Twiller. [Coming back into view from the hallway] Don’t weaken, Huxley, you know what they say about a bad rehearsal.
Mrs. Pampinelli. [Topping them all] Please, children, please!
Mrs. Fell. Down at the bottom of the page. [Mrs. Ritter comes through the center-door again and sits down on the left partition-seat.]
Mrs. Pampinelli. [Speaking directly to Mrs. Fell] Please—[Mrs. Fell sits down again, slowly, Mrs. Pampinelli looking at her stonily.] Let us have one director, if you please. [She withdraws her eyes slowly, and Nelly darts a bitter look at her.] Now, don’t let us have everybody talking at once; it only confuses people, and wastes a lot of time. [Hossefrosse stands bewildered in the middle of the room. Mrs. Pampinelli addresses him directly, speaking with measured emphasis.] We are taking the last scene first, Mr. Hossefrosse: it is the scene at the finish, between you and Miss McCrickett, just before Paula comes on,—
Hossefrosse. Oh, I beg your pardon!
Mrs. Pampinelli. And after Mr. Rush has left the stage.
Hossefrosse. I thought we were beginning right from the beginning.
Mrs. Pampinelli. No, I’d like to run through the last scene first, if you don’t mind; there are a few little things in it I’d like to correct.