"Yes, thanks, father."
"That's right. Many?"
"Oh, just as many as I hoped to do. I'm rather pleased with one of them."
"That's right."
"Anything new here, father?"
"In a way, my dear, in a way; the new man has taken over the Theatre Royal. Mobsby has left the town; I hear he has gone to Nottingham. You might give me another piece of sugar, a very small piece—or break a lump in halves."
"The new man taken over the theatre?" said Hilda. "Have you written to him about the opera?"
"Have you, father?" asked Bee, searching the sugar-basin.
"Yes," he said, "yes, I did write to him. I'm afraid he's not a gentleman. I dropped him a line, explaining matters, and offering to call on him one day when he had an hour to spare, if he would suggest an appointment, and he—er—I got no answer."
"Perhaps the letter didn't reach him, dear."