“Not at all, Polly,” he persisted, “it’s just the right grotesque spirit.”
“There’ll be a laugh.”
“The one thing Hamlet needs. Even the ghost don’t carry it off.”
“You’d better give me the line,” persisted Miss Flippance. “It’ll come better in the mad scene.”
“Well, we’ll talk about it—I think you’ve seen our American friend before.”
“Before and behind,” said Miss Flippance viciously, a scowl traversing her pockmarks. “And since he left me in the lurch, I wasn’t sorry to think I’d seen the back of him.”
“But as Miss Quar—as the Carrier hadn’t got your drumstick, there was nothing to return for,” apologized Will.
“Then why have you?” she snapped, and closed the door behind her with a similar snap.
VI
“Polly’s in a pet,” commented her parent. “She don’t like being worried by actors in search of jobs, specially on Sundays. It’s your hairless phiz, you know.”