Thomason had begun more clearly to understand. “Put some on me,” he invited.
Clifton, in the meantime, had found a golf cap which had been handed down from Baron to Thomason. It did not make a thoroughly realistic captain of him, but it was the best he could do. He was trying to recall some of the telling phrases in “The Captain’s Daughter.” He could improvise, if necessary. He looked on seriously while Bonnie May put the finishing touches on Thomason’s face.
It was then that Mrs. Harrod appeared.
“Oh! I’m sure I’m intruding!” she cried. She looked with profound amazement at every face in the room.
“You’re not intruding at all!” declared Bonnie May. “It’s to be a play, you know. You can be the audience, if you will.”
Mrs. Harrod began to laugh almost helplessly. Then she checked herself, because she perceived that Bonnie May was deeply in earnest.
“Of course!” she responded. “I make a very good audience. I’ll be delighted to help.”
She took a chair and became, immediately, a highly inspiring audience. Still, she was amazed. She had never been told by any of the Barons that Bonnie May had formerly been “of the profession.”
“We’ll do only the third act,” decided Bonnie May, addressing the two actors, “where the ship sinks, and the raft is seen at sea.” She ended by glancing at Mrs. Harrod, who nodded as if she really preferred to witness only the third act.
“We’ll need a raft, of course,” she said. She glanced about the room. The trunk was not large enough to hold two and contribute to a realistic effect. “It will have to be the bed,” she decided. “Thomason, you and Jack will sit on the bed. And you’ll have to remember that you’re on a raft in a storm. The storm is so severe that you nearly fall off the raft.”