Mrs. Ritter. [Speaking directly to Mrs. Pampinelli] Is that my cue? [Florence stops and turns and looks at her.]
Mrs. Pampinelli. Which cue, dear?
Mrs. Ritter. [Taking a step towards Florence, and with a little questioning, bewildered gesture] The telephone is my cue, isn’t it?
Mrs. Pampinelli. [With a touch of impatience] No, darling, you’re not on in this scene at all. Go on, Florence. [Mrs. Ritter puts her hand to her cheek and looks from one to the other in puzzled embarrassment.]
Florence. [Turning and resuming her lines to Hossefrosse, who, by this time, is deep in conversation with Mrs. Fell] For there are a million women exactly like me. [Mrs. Ritter bursts out laughing. So does Teddy. Twiller reaches over the partition and flips Teddy on the head with his handkerchief. Jenny appears in the left hallway to answer the telephone.]
Mrs. Ritter and Florence, together.
Mrs. Ritter. [Turning to Mrs. Pampinelli] Oh, I beg your pardon! [She leans across the table explaining to Mrs. Pampinelli, who tries politely to silence her by suggestion that the scene is in progress.] I thought that was my cue.
Florence—Secondary women. [She moves around above the table and stands just above Hossefrosse.] So don’t look so tragic; you haven’t lost anything but a lot of time;
Jenny. [At the telephone] Hello?
Mrs. Ritter, Florence and Mrs. Fell, together.
Mrs. Ritter.—I was thinking of something else, you know, and when I heard the telephone, I thought it was for me.
Florence.—And that’s always lost when it’s spent on things that are insusceptible of conclusion.
Mrs. Fell. [Bursting into a perfect shriek of laughter at something Hossefrosse has just finished telling her, and pushing him away from her] Huxley Hossefrosse, you are perfectly dreadful! [He laughs, too, and attempts to tell her something else, but she turns away and waves him aside.] No, No, No.