The heroes are called before the curtain. The giant is hissed, and smiles a ten-inch smile. The hound is cheered, and so is even with the demon, but when Adolphus leads the charming Leely out, the shouting is deafening, and the pretty actress is almost smothered with garlands and bouquets of forest flowers.
So ends the play.
But not the evening, for the giant afterwards goes through some wonderful performance with the dwarf. And Johnnie, the youthful athlete, gives ample evidence of his prowess in swinging dumb-bells and Indian clubs, all to suitable music. He even lifts the giant off the stage with one hand, while Willie stands on his shoulder.
“But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flower, its bloom is shed!
Or like the snowfall in the river,
A moment white—then melts for ever;
Or like the borealis race,
That flit ere you can point their place.”
The time is up; the end has come; the curtain drops and the band plays “God Save the King!”
CHAPTER V.
A Nymph of the Wave.
“WHAT I says is this, my dear,” said old Molly to Peggy McQueen, when she found her up and dressed next morning at a little past six, “it ain’t nateral, and if you take old Molly’s advice you’ll go back to bed again, as fast as you likes.”
“But you are up yourself, Molly!”
“I be’s an old crittur, Miss Peggy, and old critturs doesn’t get so much sleep as the young. ’Sides, Miss Peggy, they doesn’t need it.”
“But I’m going to the rocks, Molly, to fish. Don’t tell Johnnie, because I want to be first to-day.”