Mary (wearily). Papa, children, he’s beginning to kick with his legs.
Kate. Is that what is called convulsions, papa?
Tourist (rapturously). I don’t know. I think it is. What a tragedy?
Aleck (glumly). You fool! You keep cramming and cramming and you don’t know that the right name for that is agony. And you wear eye-glasses, too. I can’t bear it any longer, papa.
Tourist. Think of it, children. A man is about to fall down to his death and he is bothering about his spinal column.
(There is a noise. A man in a white vest, very much frightened, enters, almost dragged by angry tourists. He smiles, bows on all sides, stretches out his arms, now running forward as he is pushed, now trying to escape in the crowd, but is seized and pulled again.)
Voices. A bare-faced deception! It is an outrage. Policeman, policeman, he must be taught a lesson!
Other Voices. What is it? What deception? What is it all about? They have caught a thief!
The Man in the White Vest (bowing and smiling). It’s a joke, ladies and gentlemen, a joke, that’s all. The people were bored, so I wanted to provide a little amusement for them.
Unknown Man (angrily). Boss!