Tomp. (with enthusiasm) This beautiful image was dug up in the ruins of Thebes in 1785; it passed into the hands of a Florentine gentleman; but in 1825 Count Bernoldi purchased it and it remained in his collection, till I tempted his grandson, a spendthrift youth, with an offer he could not resist. Oh, how perfectly that nose is chiselled, and that shoulder——
Dunn. That cold shoulder——
Tomp. (approaching Statue) What are those wires around the feet?
Mary. (who is seen busy in hall C.—quickly) Excuse me, Sir, don’t touch them; the Electric man said as you were to be very careful with the wires.
Dunn. The connection with the street is made then? (Dunn closes the screen and lights go up again)
Mary. (C. in doorway) Yes, Sir! But he hadn’t time to bury the wires under the floor to-day; so he wrapped ’em round the feet of the Statue, where they wouldn’t be likely to hurt no one.
Dunn. Who the devil gave him permission to touch the figure? Don’t you know you are expressly forbidden to touch the figures?
Ladies come down stairs to hallway; Corney and Innings from R. in hallway join them.
Mary. Miss Griffin, Sir!
Dunn. Oh Miss—— That’ll do!