Iolanthe's Wedding

by Hermann Sudermann

"Father!"

"Twelve, sixteen, twenty-seven, thirty-one."

"Father!"

"Thirty-three--what do you want?"

"We want to say good-bye."

"Well--go--and God bless you--and be happy!--thirty-six----"

"Don't you want to see Iolanthe?"

"Thirty-nine--won!--out with the cash!--who's still got the courage for another? George, won't you take a little flyer with us?"

I got out of the room.

I told the ladies as considerately as I could that the Baron would not come. They merely looked at each other and then led the way through the smoky corridor to the back steps, where the carriage was waiting.