"Now, then, all together!"
Mrs. Jarley, waxworks, and audience swung into the final chorus. Even the four inverted Casabiancas at the back assisted by swinging their legs.
"She sent for Mrs. Jarley on the spot!
And the girls were quite content with what they got.
They were spared that youth entrancing,
Who says: 'I don't much care for dancing,
But I don't mind sitting out with you—eh, what?'"
But Cherry Ripe was not singing. She was saying to herself,—
"Not in the hall, and not behind the scenes! I wonder where he can have got to! He may have missed his train, of course; but then he could have wired, hours ago. Well, Hughie, mon ami, if that's the way you treat invitations—"
But the curtain had fallen, and all the waxworks were scuffling off their high chairs and trooping to the dressing-rooms. Cherry Ripe, following their example, put an arm round Pierrette, and said:—
"Come along, Sylvia! Home, supper, and a dance! That's the programme now."
On reaching Manors, Joan enquired of Mr. Goble,—
"Is Mr. Hughie back, John?"
"'Deed, no, mem."