Tourist (credulously). Stolen?
Vender. Why, sir, the idea!
Tourist (angrily). Do you mean to tell me it’s genuine if it isn’t stolen? Go on. Not much.
Military Woman (amiably). Are all these your children?
Tourist. Yes, madam. A father’s duty. You see, they are protesting. It is the eternal conflict between fathers and children. Here is such a tragedy going on, such a heart-rending tragedy—Mary, you are blinking your eyes again.
Military Woman. You are quite right. Children must be hardened to things. But why do you call this a terrible tragedy? Every roofer, when he falls, falls from a great height. But this here—what is it? A hundred, two hundred feet. I saw a man fall plumb from the sky.
Tourist (overwhelmed). You don’t say?
Aleck. Children, listen. Plumb from the sky.
Military Woman. Yes, yes. I saw an aeronaut drop from the clouds and go crash upon an iron roof.
Tourist. How terrible!